Volcano erupts as highest alert level declared
Tower of ash: Mount Lewotobi Laki-Laki spewing volcanic ash as seen from Nobo village in East Flores, East Nusa Tenggara. — AFP
A volcano in eastern Indonesia erupted, spewing an ash cloud more than a kilometre high after authorities raised the country's highest alert level.
Mount Lewotobi Laki-Laki on the tourist island of Flores erupted shortly after midnight yesterday, sending an ash cloud 1.2km above its peak, Indonesia's volcanology agency reported.
The volcano erupted once more at 9.36am, the agency said.
The latest rumblings follow authorities on Sunday evening raising the alert level of the 1,584m twin-peaked volcano to the highest in the country's four-tiered system.
'Lewotobi Laki-Laki's activities are still high,' Indonesia's geological agency head Muhammad Wafid warned on Sunday.
'The potential for a larger eruption than before can occur,' he said in a statement.
A series of eruptions on Sunday spewed ash as high as 6km above Laki-Laki's peak, according to the volcanology agency.
Wafid urged residents to wear face masks to protect themselves from volcanic ash, while telling people not to carry out any activities at least 6km from the crater.
The geological agency chief also warned of the possibility of hazardous lahar floods – a type of mud or debris flow – if heavy rain occurs, particularly for communities around rivers that originate at the volcano's peak.
In November, Mount Lewotobi Laki-Laki erupted multiple times, killing nine people, cancelling scores of flights to Bali and forcing the evacuation of thousands.
Laki-Laki, which means man in Indonesian, is twinned with the calmer but taller 1,703m volcano named Perempuan, after the Indonesian word for woman.
Indonesia experiences frequent seismic and volcanic activity due to its position on the Pacific 'Ring of Fire'. — AFP
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