Indonesia’s Mount Ruang volcano erupts 5 times in a row: Top 10 updates – airport shut, tsunami alert and more

Indonesia witnessed a series of eruptions from Mount Ruang, a stratovolcano located in North Sulawesi Province. The eruptions occurred on Tuesday, April 16, and continued four times on Wednesday, April 17, according to Indonesia’s volcanology agency.

The falling debris from the volcano was hazardous as it could cause a tsunami. Meanwhile, rescue teams raced to the site on Thursday, April 18, to evacuate thousands of people.

Here are the 10 updates.

• Mount Ruang’s crater became active on Wednesday, April 17, erupting four times and continuing to pour lava overnight against a backdrop of lightning bolts.

Also read: Mount Ruang volcano eruption: Indonesia’s Outermost Region on high alert, hundreds evacuated

• The Indonesian government raised alerts to the highest order in a four-tiered system.
• Authorities have issued tsunami warnings as a result of these eruptions.
• On Thursday morning, AFP reported that the volcano in Indonesia’s outermost region was still billowing a column of smoke.

• The intense thermal activity prompted authorities to shut the nearest airport, Sam Ratulangi International Airport in Manado City on Sulawesi Island, for 24 hours until April 18 evening. The airport is located more than 100 kilometres (62 miles) from the volcano.

Also read: 11 hikers killed after Mount Marapi volcano erupts in Indonesia, 3 found, many still missing

• Authorities rushed to evacuate approximately 11,000 residents who were reported to be trapped in the area where the volcanic activity occurred, including the remote island of Tagulandang, which houses around 20,000 people.

• “Last night, people evacuated on their own but without direction due to the volcano’s eruption and materials in the form of small rocks that fell, so the people scattered to find evacuation routes,” AFP quoted an official from the local search and rescue agency, Jandry Paendong as saying.

Also read: In pics: Indonesia’s Merapi volcano erupts

• Tourists and residents have been warned to remain outside the six-kilometre exclusion zone from the site of the incident.
• Authorities successfully evacuated over 800 people from Ruang following the first eruption on Tuesday evening, after which four more volcanic explosions took place.

• Hendra Gunawan, the head of Indonesia’s volcanology agency, said, “The communities in Tagulandang island, particularly those residing near the beach, (need) to be on alert for the potential ejection of incandescent rocks, hot cloud discharges and tsunami caused by the collapse of the volcano’s body into the sea.”

Officials informed AFP that some residents were already trying to flee in a panic.

Indonesia, an archipelago nation, witnesses frequent seismic and volcanic activity due to its location on the Pacific “Ring of Fire.”