Tag Archives: Mount Sinabung

Indonesia raises aviation warnings after Sumatra volcano emits ash cloud

Ash from Mount Sinabung volcano rises to an approximate height of 5,000 meters during an eruption as seen from Brastagi town in Karo, North Sumatra, Indonesia February 19, 2018 in this photo taken by Antara Foto. Antara Foto/Tibta Peranginangin/ via REUTERS

JAKARTA (Reuters) – Indonesia on Monday raised flight warnings around the Mount Sinabung volcano on Sumatra island to their highest level after it sent a towering plume of ash more than 7 kilometers (4.4 miles) into the air, its biggest eruption this year.

Areas around the crater of the volcano, located about 1,900 km (1,181 miles) northwest of the capital, Jakarta, have been off-limits for several years because of frequent volcanic activity.

The Bureau of Meteorology’s Volcanic Ash Advisory Centre (VACC), in Australia’s northern city of Darwin, issued maps on Monday showing an ash cloud heading in three directions from Sinabung, to the north, northwest and south-southeast.

Ash from Mount Sinabung volcano rises to an approximate height of 5,000 meters during an eruption in Karo, North Sumatra, Indonesia February 19, 2018 in this photo taken by Antara Foto. Antara Foto/Maz Yons/ via REUTERS

Ash from Mount Sinabung volcano rises to an approximate height of 5,000 meters during an eruption in Karo, North Sumatra, Indonesia February 19, 2018 in this photo taken by Antara Foto. Antara Foto/Maz Yons/ via REUTERS

Indonesia also upgraded its Volcano Observatory Notice for Aviation (VONA) to red, its highest warning, and said the ash-cloud top had reached 23,872 feet (7,276 meters), according to a ground observer.

Sinabung is about 75 km (47 miles) southwest of Kualanamu International Airport in Medan.

Nur Isnin Istianto, head of the regional airport authority, said Kutacane airport in Aceh province had been closed, but the wind direction allowed the airport of Kualanamu, Meulaboh and Silangit to remain open.

Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, a spokesman for Indonesia’s Disaster Agency, said the eruption began on Monday morning, accompanied by multiple earthquakes and showering surrounding villages with small rocks.

“In five districts it became dark with a visibility of about 5 metres,” he said in a statement.

No casualties were reported. The agency urged the public to stay out of a 7-km (4-mile) exclusion zone around the crater, and watch for further warnings, which could cover floods.

The 2,460-metre (8,071-ft) tall volcano is among Indonesia’s most active. When Sinabung erupted in 2014, more than a dozen people were killed and thousands were evacuated. Prior to recent times, its last known eruption was four centuries ago.

(Reporting by Cindy Silviana; Writing by Fergus Jensen; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)

Mount Sinabung Sparking Volcanic Tornadoes

They look like tornadoes and they cause destruction like a tornado.

Except they’re really made of scalding hot white ash from the pyroclastic flow from Indonesia’s Mount Sinabung which has been in the midst of major eruptions.

A web video released on YouTube is showing a  massive pyroclastic flow rushing down the mountain and destroying everything in its path with hot gas and ash.  In the wake of the flow, the video shows multiple tornado-like vortexes that continue to spin and create debris.

Scientists say the twisters technically aren’t tornadoes because there is no cumulonimbus cloud at the top.  The phenomenons are more like dust devils seen throughout the desert southwest.  Heat from the flow causes hot air near the ground to rapidly rise.

The smoke from the volcano is not really smoke but vaporized rock from the heat of the volcano.

Mount Sinabung Has Major Eruption; 15 Dead

Just days after Indonesian officials told residents near Mount Sinabung was beginning to weaken in volcanic activity, a major eruption has left at least 15 people dead.

Fourteen of the dead are people who were on the side of the mountain when it erupted and died when a rush of hot gas burned them alive.  At least four of the dead are high school students who went to the mountain on a field trip with their teacher who also died.

Witnesses say ash at least a foot thick has blanketed miles around the mountain and that rescuers have said it’s unlikely that anyone will be found alive.  Sukameriah village, about two miles from the volcano crater, has been wiped from the face of the Earth.

“There’s no signs of human life,” a witness told AFP News Agency.  “All the crops were gone.  Many houses were damaged and those still standing were covered in thick white ash.  It was hard to walk in ash that nearly reached my calves.”

Rescue efforts have been suspended at the recommendation of volcanologists.  Searchers at the site had reported volcanic tremors and thick smog.

Mount Sinabung Erupts Monday

Indonesia’s Mount Sinabung burst open nine times on Monday, including one that shot hot lava almost four miles into the sky.

The National Disaster Mitigation Agency said that smoke and ash continue to bellow from the mountain and that lava flows have been seen winding down the mountain’s sides.

Government officials have declared a three-mile exclusion zone around the mountain forcing over 20,000 people to leave the area.

Volcanologists say the mountain had been building a lava dome since late November while it continued to spit out ash that devastated the crops of local farmers.  The lava flows over the last two days have significantly lowered the level of the dome and it is expected to collapse in the next few days.

One of the country’s government volcanologists told UPI that they believe the volcano is reaching the end of its activity.

Indonesia’s Mount Sinabung Erupts Six More Times

Indonesian officials are scrambling to evacuate residents still surrounding Mount Sinabung as eruptions continue to grow stronger throughout the day.

The eruptions send lava and searing hot gases rushing a mile down the mountain’s slopes and shot volcanic rock at much as 6,500 feet into the air. Authorities have raised the warning level for the mountain to its highest level and warned aircraft to avoid the area.

Officials say at least 15,000 people have now been taken out of a zone three miles wide around the entire mountain.

A local farmer who fled the exclusion zone with his family said that hot ash and gravel began to rain down on his village in the early morning hours.

The eruptions are having a devastating impact on farming in the area. Farmers as far as 45 miles from the volcano’s crater are reporting hot ash falling and coating their crops.