Indonesia’s Ruang volcano erupted on Tuesday, spewing hot lava and ash thousands of feet into the night sky and forcing the evacuation of hundreds of people in North Sulawesi province, authorities and local news reported.
The volcano erupted at around 7:19 pm local time. antara state news agency the report said. The country’s national disaster risk reduction agency said on Wednesday that more than 800 people in nearby villages had been displaced by the eruption, with many taking ferries and taking shelter in churches and community centres.
Authorities said supplies such as mats, blankets, cleaning materials and tents are needed and more shelters may be opened for people fleeing the volcano.
Indonesia is the largest archipelagic country in the world. It’s found in the so-called “Ring of Fire,” where tectonic plates collide beneath the surface of the Pacific Ocean, triggering earthquakes and volcanic eruptions.
Rouen Mountain is a stratovolcanoor a steep, cone-shaped volcano that has accumulated layers over the years from explosive eruptions of lava, rock fragments, ash and other materials.
“It’s in a part of the world with a lot of active volcanoes,” said Dr. Tracy K. P. Greggchairman of the Department of Geology at the University at Buffalo.
Dr Gregg said its last major eruption was in 2002, when it spewed a column of lava and ash as high as 17 miles.
She said the volcano, which measured magnitude 4 in 2002, was a “large” volcano in the area. volcanic explosion index, A scale used to measure the intensity of an eruption by looking at several factors such as duration, ash volume, and plume height. The index for Mount Pinatubo in the Philippines was 6 in 1991. The measurement of Mount St. Helens in the United States in 1980 was 5.
“So it’s a little smaller than that,” she said of Rouen Mountain. She added that the current eruption was not as violent as the last eruption, but that it could not be fully assessed while the eruption was in progress.
More than 300 volcanic earthquakes Detected at least two weeks before the Ruang volcano eruption.
It’s unclear why the volcano erupted. “Every volcano has its own personality,” she said.
Several volcanoes have erupted in Indonesia over the past few years. In December 2023, the Mount Malapi volcano in Sumatra erupted, spewing an ash column nearly 3,000 meters (about 10,000 feet high), and the bodies of 11 hikers were found on the slopes.
