Indonesia issues volcano alert
2003-02-24 09:24
Jakarta - Government authorities in Indonesia's North Sulawesi province on Monday put residents living near Mount Lokon on alert and banned mountain climbing following the volcano's increasingly threatening activity at the weekend.
The 1 540m high Lokon volcano in North Sulawesi's district of Tomohon, 2 100km northeast of Jakarta, began to rumble on Sunday morning, sending out black smoke up to 2 500m into the sky and belching hot rocks and gravel, said Saud Simatupang, an official at the province's volcanology office.
"Compared with yesterday (Sunday) morning's eruption, the Lokon volcano's activity seems to have subsided today," Simatupang said.
Two small eruptions took place on Monday morning in the Lokon volcano, sending grey smoke up to 200-metres high, he added.
No casualties were reported from Lokon's more violent eruption on Sunday, when the volcano sent hot rocks and gravel as far as 500m from its crater while scattering hot ashes as far as 15km away, Simatupang said.
Despite subsiding activity, volcanologists have warned the residents to be vigilant, urging villagers not to go farming in the Lokon's slopes, "especially in the afternoon", he added.
Simatupang said that his office had placed a level three "alert" status for residents living nearby the Lokon volcano.
"In particular, we have barred people from conducting hiking activity until further notice," Simatupang said.
Lokon's last violent eruption was recorded in 1991, when a sudden blast of ash and lava killed a Swiss tourist who was climbing the volcano. That year's eruption also heavily damaged hundreds of hectares of plantations in the nearby area.
"We don't know when the volcano will stop erupting. It's difficult to predict," Simatupang said, adding that before Sunday's big eruption, the Lokon erupted on February 8 when the volcano sent black smoke up to 1 400m high.
Indonesia has the world's highest density of volcanoes with 500 located in a so-called "Ring of Fire" along the 4 800km-wide archipelago. Of these, 128 are active with 65, including Lokon, listed as dangerous. - Sapa-DPA
- SAPA