[Geology2] 2 die after Indonesian volcano erupts again

2 die after Indonesian volcano erupts again

August 30, 2010|From Andy Saputra, CNN

• 

Two people have died and more than 30,000 were displaced when a long-dormant volcano in Indonesia erupted again on Monday, officials said.

Mount Sinabung, which had been dormant for more than 400 years before it erupted early Sunday, erupted again for more than six hours Monday, shooting smoke more than three miles into the air. The rumbling sent tremors into nearby villages, where officials said some residents panicked.

"It has now stopped. We have enough food and water here, but we need more gas masks," said Johnson Tarigan, a spokesman for Karo district.

Some small domestic flights have been deferred because of the volcanic ash, but larger planes have not been affected, since they can simply fly over the ashes, said Bambang Ervan of Indonesia's Ministry of Transportation.

Two deaths were reported Monday after the second eruption.

"The two people died because of heart attack and respiratory complication," said Priyadi Kardono of the National Disaster Coordination Agency. "We have sent food and gas masks for the rest of the displaced people."

After the eruption, glowing volcanic materials spewed out of the long-dormant mountain and could be seen as far as 10 km away (10.2 miles), the official Antara news agency reported.

Officials are concerned that if the eruption continues, the smoke -- up to 2,000 meters (6,561 feet) high -- could disrupt aviation. But the nearby Polonia International Airport was still operating normally Monday.

The volcano erupted just after 12:15 a.m. Sunday (1:15 p.m. ET Saturday), the official Antara news agency reported.

On Saturday, the Center for Volcanology and Geological Disaster Mitigation issued a warning and ordered evacuation of a six km (3.7 miles) radius around the volcano. Investigators are studying the volcano, which officials had believed was inactive before Sunday's eruption.

Source

--
Got Penguins? 

Penguin News Today
The Science of Penguins
Gentoo Penguins of Gars O'Higgins Station, Antarctica

New blog - VEI 8

We simply need that wild country available to us, even if we never do more than drive to its edge and look in. For it can be a means of reassuring ourselves of our sanity as creatures, a part of the geography of hope.

-- Wallace Stegner

>^,,^< 

__._,_.___

Your email settings: Individual Email|Traditional
Change settings via the Web (Yahoo! ID required)
Change settings via email: Switch delivery to Daily Digest | Switch to Fully Featured
Visit Your Group | Yahoo! Groups Terms of Use | Unsubscribe

__,_._,___