The local government has declared a 14-day emergency and established a command post to coordinate response efforts, the country’s disaster agency spokesman (BNPB), Abdul Muhari, said in a statement on Friday.
Abdul added that more than 4,700 residents have been evacuated as of Friday and called on those remaining to find a safe location.
“The people are asked to remain in safe locations and follow directives from the regional government,” Abdul said.
The local airport in Maumere, on Flores, the closest to the volcano, has not been affected by the ash, according to the transportation ministry.
“The ash column was observed grey to black with thick intensity,” Indonesia’s volcanology agency said in a statement about the eruption, which began at around 11pm on Thursday.
Volcanic ash from the eruption blanketed several nearby villages on Friday.
At least two people were injured, including a man whose roof collapsed under volcanic debris, a local official said.
The agency warned residents of the risk of volcanic mudflows due to heavy rainfall.
The long eruption prompted the country’s geological agency to raise the volcano’s alert level to the highest of the four-tiered system.
Authorities imposed an exclusion zone between seven and 8km around the volcano, the agency added.
In November, Mount Lewotobi Laki-Laki erupted multiple times, killing nine people, cancelling scores of international flights to the tourist island of Bali and forcing thousands to evacuate.
Laki-Laki, which means “man” in Indonesian, is twinned with a calmer volcano named after the Indonesian word for “woman”.
Indonesia, a vast archipelago nation, experiences frequent seismic and volcanic activity due to its position on the Pacific “Ring of Fire”.
