The images are impressive, as are the consequences. Rescue services are mobilized this Thursday in Indonesia to evacuate several thousand people threatened by an erupting volcano in the north of the archipelago after an alert against the risk of a tsunami if debris from the volcano falls into the sea. The Ruang volcano has experienced five eruptions since Tuesday and projected a cloud of ash more than a kilometer high into the sky, forcing the Ministry of Transport to close the Manado international airport located more than a hundred kilometers away.
The volcano's crater ignited and spewed lava overnight from Wednesday to Thursday, prompting authorities to raise the alert level to the highest on a scale of four. The volcano, located on a small island in the northern province of Celebes, in an isolated area of the archipelago, was still releasing a column of smoke this Thursday morning. Authorities announced the evacuation of 11,000 people in the area near the volcano, which includes the island of Tagulandang, where around 20,000 people live.
Hasty evacuations
Some residents tried to flee in panic, according to authorities. “Last night, people evacuated by themselves, in disorder, due to the eruption of the volcano and materials, small stones that fell,” Jandry Paendong, an official with the relief agency, in a press release. A team of around twenty people is evacuating residents living along the coast facing the volcano on inflatable boats, he said. Residents were urged not to go more than six kilometers from the volcano.
More than 800 people had already been moved from Ruang to the neighboring island of Tagulandang after the first eruption on Tuesday evening, before four more eruptions occurred on Wednesday. But authorities are now worried about a possible risk of a tsunami.
“Residents of Tagulandang Island, especially those residing near the beach, should be on alert for the risk of incandescent rock projections, fiery clouds and tsunami caused by the collapse of the mass of the volcano in the sea,” Hendra Gunawan, director of the Indonesian Volcanology Agency, said in a statement on Wednesday.
In 2018, the crater of the Anak Krakatoa volcano, located between the islands of Java and Sumatra, partially collapsed during a major eruption, triggering a tsunami that killed more than 400 people. Indonesia is located on the Pacific Ring of Fire, where the meeting of continental plates causes significant volcanic and seismic activity. The country has nearly 130 active volcanoes.