TAGULANDANG: Indonesian authorities were on alert on Friday (Apr 19) for more eruptions from a remote island volcano that forced thousands to evacuate this week, as nearby residents began clearing debris after molten rocks rained down on their villages.
Mount Ruang erupted nearly half a dozen times in 24 hours beginning late Tuesday, stirring a mix of fiery orange lava, a towering ash column and volcanic lightning.
While officials said Ruang had started to calm Friday, authorities maintained the highest alert level of a four-tiered system, which indicates high volcanic activity, and told residents to remain more than 6km from the crater.
“Currently the volcanic activity… is still high, potential dangers that may occur are explosive eruptions producing incandescent rocks in all directions, followed by hot clouds or effusive eruptions (lava flow),” Muhammad Wafid, head of Indonesia’s volcanology agency, said in a statement.
Hundreds of locals on neighbouring Tagulandang island were seen cleaning up volcanic material from the harbour and their yards on Friday morning with the help of soldiers and police officers, according to an AFP journalist.
Some described their panic and rush to safety when the eruption began.
“I evacuated. There was a house. I stayed there. And then it rained and rocks fell. I prayed ‘God have mercy, please help me God’,” Ninice Hoata, a 59-year-old teacher, told AFP on Tagulandang.
White smoke of “low to medium intensity” was seen billowing up to 200m above the crater, Wafid said.
Other residents pleaded for more assistance.
“We really need tarpaulin assistance as soon as possible, to temporarily cover the leaking roof,” said Herman Sahoa, a 64-year-old Tagulandang resident.
“We are worried there will be a follow-up because there is information about that.”
