It’s at least the 95e time he wakes up since the beginning of the year. The Ibu volcano, located in eastern Indonesia, erupted again this Monday, May 27, 2024, at 3:30 a.m. local time (6:30 p.m. GMT Sunday), projecting a column of ash 6 km to the above the summit, according to authorities.
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“A column of ashes with thick intensity”
“A column of ash was observed, gray in color with thick intensity, drifting towards the west”indicated the director of the National Agency of Volcanology and Geology, Muhammad Wafid, in a press release relayed by theFrance Media Agency (AFP). “Rumblings were heard all the way to the (monitoring) post”he added.
The population is urged not to enter an exclusion zone of between four and seven kilometers around the volcano crater.
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The volcano on maximum alert since mid-May
Ibu Volcano, located on the island of Halmahera in the North Moluccas province, is one of the most active volcanoes in Indonesia, with more than 21,000 eruptions recorded in 2023.
It is currently at the highest alert level in Indonesia’s system, which has four. The authorities raised the alert level to the maximum after an eruption on May 17. According to official figures dating from 2022, cited by theAFPmore than 700,000 people live on the island of Halmahera.