The eruption of Mount Ruang in the central province of North Sulawesi has caused chaos, with thick clouds of ash reaching more than 5km (3 miles) into the sky. Thousands of people have been evacuated and flights disrupted as the volcano continues to erupt.
Officials have reported that Mount Ruang erupted at least three times on Tuesday, raising fears of debris falling into the sea and triggering a potential tsunami. Dramatic footage captured by Indonesia’s disaster mitigation agency (BNPB) shows lightning strikes above the volcano’s crater as fiery red clouds of lava and rocks are ejected into the air.
All 843 residents living on Ruang Island have been moved to safety in Manado, the provincial capital, while 12,000 people from neighboring Tagulandang Island are being evacuated to Siau Island further north. The volcanic ash has even reached as far as Borneo, prompting the closure of several airports in the region.
The head of the Mount Ruang monitoring post, Julius Ramopolii, has urged residents to stay outside a seven-kilometer exclusion zone around the volcano as the alert level remains at its highest. Indonesia, located on the Pacific “Ring of Fire,” is prone to frequent earthquakes and volcanic eruptions.
This recent eruption follows a series of earlier eruptions in April, highlighting the ongoing volcanic activity in the region. The 2018 eruption of Mount Anak Krakatoa also serves as a stark reminder of the destructive power of these natural phenomena, as it triggered a tsunami that claimed hundreds of lives.