Sumatra volcano sparks panic

2005-04-12 08:13

Jakarta - A volcano on the Indonesian island of Sumatra spewed ash on Tuesday, sparking panic among a population that has yet to recover from a recent earthquake, officials said.

A meteorology and geophysics official in the west Sumatran town of Padang Panjang said that nearby Mount Talang had erupted at 20:42 GMT on Monday, coughing volcanic ash about one kilometre around the peak.

The 2 599 metre Mount Talang is just some 40 kilometres east of the coastal capital of West Sumatra province, Padang.

The official, Sugeng, said his office had warned people to avoid the ash fall-out zone around the peak but had otherwise not demanded the evacuation of the rest of the mountain's slope.

"We are still monitoring the activities of the volcano but so far there has not been any significant volcanic temblor registered," he said.

The Detickcom online news service said that the eruption had sparked panic among the local population on the fertile slope of the volcano, prompting many to flee to areas far from the mountain.

Padang was hit by a strong earthquake measuring 6.7 on the Richter scale on Sunday, causing minimal damage but prompting panic that saw thousands of residents flee to higher ground fearing tidal waves.

The eruption follows a series of major natural disasters to strike the western coast of Sumatra island.

A massive 9.3 magnitude earthquake hit Aceh and parts of North Sumatra on December 26, creating deadly tidal waves that levelled coastal areas around the Indian Ocean, leaving more than 220 000 people dead or missing.

On March 28, a strong earthquake hit shook the islands of Nias and Simeulue off the western coast of Sumatra, killing more than 600 people.

Indonesia sits on a series of geological faultlines that remain constantly on the move and that are lined with over 130 active volcanoes.

- AFP