Jakarta: Indonesian authorities widened an exclusion zone and ordered a dozen villages to evacuate before a potential eruption, raising the alert level for an eastern volcano to its highest level on Thursday ( Feb 13 ).
Nine people were killed when Mount Lewotobi Laki-Laki, a holiday island in Flores, erupted in November, forcing thousands of people to flee to Bali.
The 1, 703m twin-peaked volcano’s latest emergency measures were brought about by increased geological and geological activity.
According to Indonesia’s head of the geologic agency Muhammad Wafid,” the results of sensory monitoring and tectonic activity showed a rapid increase in volcanic earthquakes.”
” Eruption could possibly occur in the future.”
According to Wafid, the alert level was raised to the highest level of a four-tiered system starting at 3am ( 4am, Singapore time ).
Additionally, he even issued a warning about the potential for dangerous lahar floods, which are a type of mud or dirt flow.
” People around Mount Lewotobi Laki-Laki should be on alert for the possibility of lahar floods in rivers that originate at Mount Lewotobi Laki-Laki’s peak if high-intensity rain occurs,” he said.
Afterwards, Wafid claimed that the crater’s rejection zone had been extended from 5 km to 6 km around it.
” This includes six settlements that must be evacuated”, he said, without specifying the number of people there.
Laki-Laki, which means “man” in Indonesian, is twinned with a peaceful mountain named after the Indonesian expression for “woman”.
Due to its location on the Pacific’s” Ring of Fire,” Indonesia, a large archipelago nation, frequently experiences geological and volcanic activity.