Mount Sinabung Volcano erupts in Sumatra Island

Mount Sinabung volcano erupted in Sumatra Island of western Indonesia. Eruption resulted in column of thick ash being spread seven km high to southeast and south of crater.

Key Highlights

• Warning: Local residents living along rivers near volcano’s crater were advised to be on alert for possible lava flows. National Volcanology Agency of Indonesia urged residents living near flank of volcano to use masks when rains of ash pour down and those living alongside rivers with upstream in slope of volcano were warned of cold lava floods during torrential rains.
• No damages or casualty were reported due to eruption.
• Mt. Sinabung Volcano is at 2nd highest alert level due to which no one lives inside a previously announced No-Go Zone around five km from the crater.
• Fact: Indonesia is home to over 130 active volcanoes due to its position on ‘Pacific Ring of Fire’, a belt of tectonic plate boundaries circling Pacific Ocean where frequent seismic activity occurs.

About Mt. Sinabung

Background: Mt. Sinabung roared back to life in 2010 for the first time in past 400 years. After another period of inactivity for yew years it again erupted in 2013, and has remained highly active since then. Carter saw a deadly eruption in 2016 in which seven people died.

Geography:

• It is a Pleistocene-to-Holocene (geological epoch) Stratovolcano (also known as composite volcano). It belongs to Volcanic arc/belt of Sunda Arc.
• Elevation: It is 2,475 meters high.
• Location: It is located in Karo district of North Sumatra province in western Indonesia and 40km from Lake Toba supervolcano.

Month: Current Affairs - June, 2019