9 dead as mount Laki Laki volcano erupts in Indonesia, WATCH

Indonesia: At least nine people have died in the eruption of Mount Lewotobi Laki-Laki in eastern Indonesia, sending enormous lava clouds into the air and forcing authorities to evacuate several nearby villages. The heavy rain, powerful lightning and power outrage had made the disaster complicated by creating panic among the residents.

Hadi Wijaya, a spokesman for the Center for Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation (PVMBG) said, “Power outage followed the eruption. Heavy rain and powerful lightning struck the area, and it caused panic among the residents.” The authorities had upgraded the status of the volcano to Level IV, which is the highest alert level as reported by Reuters news agency.

According to Hadi, the burning fires of lava and stones affected communities within a radius of 4 kilometers from the crater and burned and damaged houses along with destroying others. The agency recommended the evacuation of a 7-kilometer (4.35 miles). The evacuation process has been started from the Monday morning and the residents were moved to villages 20 kilometers from the crater.

“We have begun evacuating the residents since this morning to other villages located about 20 kms (13 miles) from the crater, ” said Hadi.

An official in East Flores region, Heronimus Lamawuran confirmed that, at least nine people had died by Monday morning and thick volcanic ash covers nearby villages.

The Indonesian archipelago falls under the ‘Pacific Ring of Fire’ and has various plates colliding. That puts this country under seismic movements.

Indonesia is going through a chain of eruptions. Reportedly, this is the third recent volcanic eruption in Indonesia. Mount Ibu, on the remote island of Halmahera, erupted in May, releasing massive clouds into the air. The horrific incident forced to evacuate people from seven nearby villages. Similarly, heavy rains on May 11 caused flash floods and cold lava flows from Mount Marapi in West Sumatra province, killing more than 60 people in neighboring districts.

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