VOLCANO GUIDE

TANAH KARO, KOMPAS.com — An Indonesian volcano that had been dormant for more than four centuries erupted for the second day in a row Monday, spewing white clouds of smoke and ash more than 2,000 yards (meters) into the air, officials and witnesses said.

Thousands of people living along the slopes of Mount Sinabung in North Sumatra province have been evacuated to emergency shelters, mosques and churches, said Priyadi Kardono, a spokesman for the National Disaster Management Agency.
(pict. courtesy of Daily News)

Their abandoned villages and crops are blanketed in heavy, gray soot. Mount Sinabung last erupted in 1600, so observers don’t know its eruption pattern and are monitoring it closely for more activity. They raised the volcano’s alert to the highest level after its first blast Sunday, which followed days of rumbling.

“The problem is, we really have no idea what to expect,” said Surono, a government volcanologist who uses only one name. “We don’t know what set it off, how long it will continue or whether we should expect pyroclastic flows.”

The number of people evacuated climbed to 12,000 on Monday, said Kardono, adding that food, emergency tents, and medicine were on their way to the scene. The government also has set up public kitchens for refugees and handed out more than 17,000 respiratory masks.

It's an explosion 400 years in the making.
(pict. courtesy of Newstime)
A volcano that had been long dormant in Indonesia has erupted, spewing lava and sand nearly a mile into the air on Sunday.
One person has been killed, and more than 10,000 have been evacuated, officials said.
"We will monitor the activity intensively. Before we reach conclusion that the condition is safe, we recommend those living in the radius of 6 kilometers to leave the area," a government volcanologist named Surono told the Xinhua news agency.
Mount Sinabung, located in the northern part of Indonesia, began showing signs of an impending eruption last week. Evacuations started on Friday.



The government has distributed 7,000 masks to refugees and set up public kitchens so people can cook food, said Priyadi Kardono, spokesman for the National Disaster Management Agency.
(pict. courtesy of Detik News)

Indonesia, the world’s largest archipelago, is on the so-called “Ring of Fire,” an arc of volcanos and fault lines encircling the Pacific Basin.

Kompas.com Senin, 30 Agustus 2010 | 11:42 WIB