Too close for comfort: Residents watching the eruption of Mount Lewotobi Laki-Laki from Lewolaga village in East Flores, East Nusa Tenggara. — AFP
Mount Lewotobi Laki-Laki volcano spewed towering columns of hot ash high into the air, days after a huge eruption killed nine people and injured dozens of others.
Activity at the volcano on the remote island of Flores, in East Nusa Tenggara province, has increased since Monday’s initial eruption.
On Thursday, authorities expanded the danger zone as the volcano erupted again.
Friday’s activity saw the largest column of ash so far recorded at 10km high, Hadi Wijaya, the head of the Center for Volcanology and Geological Disaster Mitigation, told a news conference yesterday.
Wijaya said volcanic materials, including smouldering rocks, lava, and hot, thumb-size fragments of gravel and ash, were thrown up to 8km from the crater on Friday.
There were no casualties reported from the latest eruption as the 1,584m-volcano shot billowing columns of ash at least three times yesterday, rising up to 9km, the volcano monitoring agency said.
Authorities increased Lewotobi Laki-Laki’s alert status to the highest level since Monday, and expanded the danger zone on Thursday to a radius of 8km on the northwest and southwest sides of the mountain slope.
“We are still evaluating how far the (danger zone) radius should be expanded,” Wijaya said.
Hot clouds of ash “are currently spreading in all directions.”
The series of eruptions throughout the week have already affected more than 10,000 people in 14 villages, with more than half moving into makeshift emergency shelters. — AP
