The Indonesian Sinabung volcano has erupted this Monday. The ash cloud that it has expelled reached 4,500 meters in height and has left the Karo regency, on the island of Sumatra, in the dark at midday. The Indonesian Center for Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation has reported that so far there are no injuries or deaths, and, given the risk of a magmatic eruption, it has recommended that the inhabitants of the area establish a perimeter of five kilometers around the crater . In addition, it has been reported that the ash has reached populations located 20 kilometers from the crater.
This is the fourth time in 10 years that this volcano has erupted. It lay dormant for more than four centuries before waking up in 2010, the year it killed two people. Two other outbreaks in 2014 and 2016 left a balance of 16 and 7 deaths respectively. In recent years, some 30,000 people have been forced to leave their homes due to the danger of these natural phenomena.
Sinabung is one of the more than 120 active volcanoes in Indonesia, and is highly prone to seismic upheaval because it is in the middle of the Pacific Ring of Fire, an area that concentrates more than 75% of the world's active volcanoes and that surrounds the Pacific Basin.
