Indonesia: Mount Lokon erupts again

By BNO News

MANADO, INDONESIA (BNO NEWS) -- Indonesia's Mount Lokon erupted again on Wednesday afternoon after showing increased volcanic activity since the day before, officials said on Thursday.

Mount Lokon, which is located on the northern tip of the island of Sulawesi, is now spewing incandescent materials up to a height of 1,200 meters (3,930 feet), Farid Ruskanda Bina, head of the Mount Lokon observation post in Tomohon, told the Antara news agency.

Farid said the eruption came shortly after increased seismic activity was recorded, while Volcanology and Geology Disaster Mitigation Center chief Surono noted that Mount Lokon is one of the two Indonesian volcanoes currently on Alert Level 3, which is also known as "Siaga" in the country. The other volcano on Siaga status is Mount Ibu in North Maluku.

Both volcanoes are currently considered the most worrisome in the country since they have been consistently erupting ash clouds which reach up to 2.5 kilometers (1.5 mile) high. However, Surono said the eruptions have not placed local residents in danger.

Nonetheless, Surono noted that unlike developed countries such as Japan, where each monitoring expert is assigned one volcano, in Indonesia, each expert has to monitor five volcanoes, making it more difficult to anticipate such natural disasters.

The center has adopted four levels of alert status: "Normal" (Level 1), "Waspada" (Level 2), "Siaga" (Level 3) and "Awas" (Level 4).

On August 17, Mount Lokon began to spew volcanic ash which fell as far away as the Kinilow I village and the Tinoor areas in North Tomohon sub district, which is a short distance from Lokon's crater. And on August 28, Mount Lokon erupted as many as 12 times, followed by constant volcanic activity in the following weeks.

Dozens of active volcanoes in Indonesia are part of the Pacific Ring of Fire, known for frequent earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. Next to Mount Lokon is its volcanic twin, Mount Empung, just 2.2 kilometers (1.3 miles) away.

One of Indonesia's most active volcanoes is Mount Merapi, which is located on the island of Java near Jogjakarta, the country's second-most visited area after Bali. Last year, more than 300 people were killed in a series of eruptions between October and November which also displaced over 300,000 people.