Indonesian volcano has biggest eruption yet

Mount Lokon on Sulawesi island shoots hot ash and debris 3,500 metres into the air, sending villagers racing to shelters
Associated Press
guardian.co.uk, Sunday 17 July 2011 11.14 BST


Mount Lokon spewing volcanic ash on Sunday, releasing the greatest amount of energy so far since it rumbled back to life last week. Photograph: Reuters

A volatile volcano in central Indonesia has unleashed its most powerful eruption yet, spewing hot ash and smoke thousands of metres into the air and sending panicked villagers racing back to emergency shelters. There were no immediate reports of casualties.

Mount Lokon, located on northern Sulawesi island, has been dormant for years but rumbled back to life late last week.

A series of overnight blasts on Thursday and Friday claimed one life – a woman who suffered a heart attack as she fled.

But Surono, a government volcanologist who uses only one name, said Sunday's eruption at 10.35am has released the greatest amount of energy so far, shooting soot and debris 3,500 metres into the sky.

"We're hoping this helped ease pressure building up behind the magma dome and that we'll now start seeing a reduction in activity," he said. "But it's too early to know."

More than 33,000 people live along the slopes of Mount Lokon, taking advantage of fertile soil to grow cloves and coffee. About 5,000 of them with homes nearest to the crater have been relocated in recent days to schools, mosques and other makeshift shelters near the base.

Despite warnings that the mountain was still not safe, some had returned early on Sunday to tend to their crops and their livestock.

The powerful explosion sent them racing back down the slopes, some jumping into cars and motorcycles, others rounded up by soldiers and police and escorted down in trucks.

"It was huge," said Henny Lalawi, who works as a picker for a coffee plantation. "It sounded like a bomb and then I saw the crater burst, sending ash high into the air. It was pretty awesome, really."

She said she'll have to go back when things settle down. "It's only ash, after all, and I need the work."

Mount Lokon is one of about 129 active volcanoes in Indonesia. Its last major eruption in 1991 killed a Swiss hiker and forced thousands of people to flee their homes.

Indonesia, a vast archipelago of 240 million people, is prone to earthquakes and volcanoes because it sits along the "Ring of Fire", a horseshoe-shaped string of faults that lines the Pacific Ocean.

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