Volcano erupts on Indonesia island
A volcano erupted yesterday morning on the same central Indonesian island as an earlier earthquake and authorities warned planes about volcanic ash in the air. Mount Soputan in North Sulawesi province spewed ash 6,000 metres into the sky yesterday. No evacuations were immediately ordered.
A government volcanologist suspects the eruption was triggered by the 7.5 magnitude earthquake in Central Sulawesi on Friday.
‘It could be that this earthquake triggered the eruption, but the direct correlation has yet to be seen as there had been an increase in the Mount Soputan activity,’ the volcanologist, Kasbani, said.
Soputan’s eruption status was raised from an alert to standby 4km from the summit and up to 6.5km to the west-south-west. Standby status means the public should avoid the area nearest the volcano and have masks available in the event of ashfall.