Sleeping Mount Sinabung Awakens, Residents Affected of Volcanic Eruption

Mount Sinabung, in the north of the island of Sumatra, awoke, spewing out lava and sending smoke over Suka Nulu village in Tanah Karo. Mount Sinabung rumbled for several days before eruption. The smoke and dust were sent 1,500 metres into the air. It was reported that two people had died from breathing problems and a heart attack respectively. The mobilization of trucks, ambulances, and buses in the rescue operation caused people injured in road accidents.

 

The eruption made thousands of Indonesians evacuate from the slopes of a volcano which is one of 69 active volcanoes in Indonesia. At least 12,000 people from high risk areas on the slopes of the 2,460-metre volcano were sent to temporary evacuation centers that were former government buildings or worship places and later transformed into safe havens for the displaced. They were anticipated to remain at the shelters for at least a week. Airline flights are already affected and some were diverted or even cancelled due to poor visibility from volcanic ashes. It was warned that the eruption would get even stronger in the following days. People were given face masks and medicines in the event that there was any respiratory infection breakout.

 

Mount Sinabung never erupted since 1600.

 

The 2000-meter plumes of smoke and ash caused local flights to be delayed. Authorities warned that residents from within a six-kilometer range of the volcano should leave.

 

A church in Bekerah village sits beneath the volcano in Tanah Karo district.

 

Villagers wait at one of 16 shelters set up over the weekend.

 

The volcano had rumbled in a few days before it erupted.

 

The volcano shot up black smoke and ashes up to a mile high.

 

Villagers left their village on motorcycles outside Medan. They are covered in ash.

 

 

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