VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Mar. 12 - Mount Sinabung in Karo district, North Sumatra province erupted twice on Thursday, ejecting hot clouds as far as three kilometers away.

The first eruption occurred at 7.37 a.m. Western Indonesia Time (WIB), with the ash column reaching a height of one thousand meters in the westerly and southwesterly directions, Head of the Mount Sinabung Observation Post, Armen Putra, stated here on Thursday.

"It was recorded to have an amplitude of 40 mm and a duration of 5 minutes and 38 seconds," he added.

The volcano again emitted hot clouds twice, with the first hot clouds recorded at 9.22 a.m. WIB, with a sliding distance of three thousand meters, and the second hot clouds detected at 9.29 a.m. WIB, with a sliding distance of two thousand meters from the peak.

The emergency status of the 2,460-meter-high volcano has been declared as Level III (alert).

Putra urged residents and farmers to refrain from carrying out activities in villages that have been relocated and at locations within a three-km radius of the mountain’s peak, a five-km radius in the south-east sector, and a four-km radius in the east-north sector.

Mt. Sinabung eruptions claimed two lives in 2010 and 15 lives in 2015.

The last known eruption, prior to recent times, occurred in the year 1600. (Antaranews)