Thousands Flee Mount Sinabung Eruption

Mount Sinabung records first eruption in 3 years

Thousands of people from 12 villages near the volcano located in North Sumatra’s Karo regency were forced to flee their homes after Mount Sinabung erupted on Sunday, it’s first eruption since 2010, reports said.

The volcano erupted at at 2:45 a.m. local time and continued to eject volcanic matter for at least 7 hours.

“There is the potential for another eruption; therefore, we are calling on people to remain alert,” said the Geological Disaster Mitigation and Volcanology Center (PVMBG).

Mt Sinabung erupted in August 2010 after 410 years of dormancy. The eruption claimed a dozen lives and displaced thousands of others.

The eruption which occurred on August 29, 2010 was followed by a more powerful explosion the next day, and much stronger blast on September 7, 2010.

Mount Sinabung spewing volcanic ashes as seen from Simpang Empat Village in Karo, North Sumatera (9/15). Credit:  ANTARA/Septianda Perdana. 

Approximate location of Sinabung is marked  on the map by FEWW. Mount Sinabung is one of Indonesia’s 130  active volcanoes

Sinabung Volcano: Summary of Details

Country: Indonesia
Region: Sumatra
Volcano Type: Stratovolcano
Volcano Status: Holocene
Last Known Eruption: Unknown [1600?]
Summit Elevation: 2,460m
Latitude: 3.17°N Longitude: 98.392°E
Source: GVP

Sinabung is located in Group K Volcanoes

Map of Volcanoes. Background Map: University of Michigan. Designed and enhanced by Fire Earth Blog. Click image to enlarge.

The PVMBG categorizes Sinabung as a type A volcano, or those that have erupted since 1600. Type B volcanoes have not erupted since 1600 but show signs of activity, and type C are those that have not erupted in recorded history, said a report.

Related Links

• Mount Sinabung Erupts  August 29, 2010
• Sinabung Erupts Again  August 30, 2010
• Sinabung Erupts Again – Strongest Explosion to Date September 7, 2010

Mount Rokatenda Erupts, Kills 6 People

Restive Mount Rokatenda on Palue, Indonesia, finally erupts

Mount Rokatenda, located on the small island of Palue about 2,000km east of Jakarta, erupted spewing ash and rocks more than 2,000 meter into the air.

Hot ash and lava from the eruption fell on a nearby beach, killing at least 6 people including 2 children, officials said.

Rokatenda has been restive since last October, forcing the evacuation of hundreds of villagers.

The eruption started at 04:27 on Saturday (20:27 UTC Friday) and lasted for about 4 hours, according to the National Disaster Mitigation Agency.

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Mount Rokatenda is one of about 130 active volcanoes in Indonesia, an archipelago of more than 17,000 islands. Much of the country sits along the Pacific “Ring of Fire,” an area crisscrossed by numerous fault lines and prone to earthquakes and volcanic activity.

Mount Merapi’s 2010 eruption in central Java left up to 400 people dead and more than 250,000 others displaced.

3 Explosions Heard at Krakatau Volcano

More Volcanic Unrest in Indonesia

Villagers flee after Krakatau explodes 3 times

Krakatau Erption in 2008. Credit: Thomas.Schiet. Click image to enlarge.

About 1,000 Villagers fled the area after three loud explosions were heard from Mount Anak Krakatau, reports say.

“We received information that the number of earthquakes increased to 933 on Friday. This is harmless as long as the villagers still stay at least two kilometers away,” Anto Pambudi, head of the team observing Mt. Anak Krakatau said.

The alert status for the volcano has now been raised to “caution.”

Mt Krakatau, Sinabung and Merapi Volcanoes Location Map. Source of the original map: USGS. Map enhanced by Fire-Earth. Click image to enlarge.

Krakatau Islands Location Map. Original map enhanced by Fire-Earth.

The Island Map (Simkin and Fiske, 1983). Image may be subject to copyright.

Krakatau Image by Landsat Pathfinder Project (Dated May 18, 1992)

William Ashcroft painting “On the Banks of the River Thames” in London, November 26, 1883 [Exactly three months after Krakatoa’s cataclysmic 1883 eruption.]

The Krakatoa eruption affected the climate driving the weather patterns wild for the next 5 years. Average global temperatures fell by about 1.2 °C in the following years, returning to normal only in 1888.

The violent explosions [August 27, 1883]

Krakatoa is a volcanic island in the Sunda Strait located between Indonesian islands of Java and Sumatra. Both the volcano and island group share the same name.

Four enormous explosions almost entirely destroyed Krakatoa island on August 27, 1883. The violent explosions were reportedly heard in Perth, Western Australia,  some 3,500 km away. It was heard even on the island of Rodrigues near Mauritius, about 4,800 km away.

The shockwave from the last explosion, which ejected volcanic matter 80 km into the atmosphere, echoed around the planet seven times.

An 1888 lithograph of the 1883 violent explosion of Krakatau.

The eruption ejected about 21 cubic kilometers of volcanic matter and completely destroyed two-thirds of the Krakatoa island.

Related Links:

• More Indonesian Volcanoes Could Erupt Simultaneously [Probability ≥ 0.55]
• Singapore Sling

Latest Entries on Mt Merapi

• Merapi’s latest eruption the deadliest so far
• 2010 Disaster Calendar [NOVEMBER]

• Mt Merapi Erupts Again, 70,000 Evacuated
• Mount Merapi Erupts Repeatedly
• Tsunami Claims 200 After 7.7Mw Quake Strikes Indonesia

• 2010 disasters
• 2011 SIX TIMES MORE DISASTROUS THAN 2010
• Collapse Diary
• 2010 Disaster Calendar

More Volcano Links

• A New Era of Intense Volcanic Unrest May Have Begun
• World’s Dormant Volcanoes Firing
• VolcanoWatch Weekly [16 September 2009]
• Sinabung Getting More Serious
• Sinabung Erupts Again

FEWW Volcanic Activity Forecast

• Sumatra’s Mt Kerinci Erupts
• Volcano Watch Weekly: 23 April 2009
• Weekly Volcano Watch: 16 April 2009
• Weekly Volcano Watch: 2 April 2009
• Tonga’s Metis Shoal may be erupting
• Rumble III Volcano “blew its top!”

Other Related Links:

• FEWW Volcano Links
• Volcanoes
• FEWW Earthquake Links

Merapi’s latest eruption the deadliest so far

The latest eruption of Mount Merapi volcano claims about 70 lives; hundreds more injured

Mt Merapi volcano’s latest salvo of eruptions began on October 26, 2010.  On Thursday, it blasted hot ash and poisonous volcanic fumes into the air, killing about 70 more people, reports say.

The blast has burned villages up to 15km (9 miles) from the summit crater.

Indonesian President Bambang  declared the eruption a national disaster on Friday. Up to 100,000 people have now abandoned dozens of villages on the slopes of the volcano. The death toll from the continual 10-day eruption has now climbed to at least 115.

Mt Merapi’s Eruption: Satellite Image

Download large image (2 MB, JPEG) — Image acquired November 1, 2010 – Posted on November 5, 2010.

ASTER on NASA’s Terra satellite captured the thermal signature of hot ash and rock and a glowing lava dome on October 30.  The thermal data is overlaid on a three-dimensional map of the volcano to show the approximate location of the flow. The three-dimensional data is from a global topographic model created using ASTER stereo observations.

Merapi shows no signs of slowing. After several days of eruptive episodes, the volcano began an eruption on November 3 that was five times more intense than on October 26 and lasted more than 24 hours. It is the most violent eruption at the volcano since the 1870s, said local geologists. (Source: NASA-EO).

Mt Sinabung, Krakatau and Merapi Volcanoes Location Map. Source of the original map: USGS. Map enhanced by Fire-Earth. Click image to enlarge.

Videos and more images are available at: HVO

Related Links:

• A New Era of Intense Volcanic Unrest May Have Begun
• World’s Dormant Volcanoes Firing
• VolcanoWatch Weekly [16 September 2009]
• Sinabung Getting More Serious
• Sinabung Erupts Again

FEWW Volcanic Activity Forecast

• Sumatra’s Mt Kerinci Erupts
• Volcano Watch Weekly: 23 April 2009
• Weekly Volcano Watch: 16 April 2009
• Weekly Volcano Watch: 2 April 2009
• Tonga’s Metis Shoal may be erupting
• Rumble III Volcano “blew its top!”

Other Related Links:

• FEWW Volcano Links
• Volcanoes
• FEWW Earthquake Links

• Earth’s Climate: A Solar Powered System

Latest Entries on Mt Merapi

• Mt Merapi Erupts Again, 70,000 Evacuated
• Mount Merapi Erupts Repeatedly
• Tsunami Claims 200 After 7.7Mw Quake Strikes Indonesia

• 2010 disasters
• 2011 SIX TIMES MORE DISASTROUS THAN 2010
• Collapse Diary
• 2010 Disaster Calendar

Mount Merapi Erupts Repeatedly

Mount Merapi erupted at least six times Friday, spewing ash and lava

Indonesia’s Mount Merapi volcano erupted repeatedly on Friday, spewing ash and lava, reports say.

The plume reportedly rose to a height of  about 1,500 meters (~ 5,000 feet).

Mount Merapi volcano spewed lava for the first time in its latest round of activity which began Tuesday.  Photo: AFP/ Getty Images. Image may be subject to copyright.

Mount Merapi, located north of the Yogyakarta, on the densely populated island of Java, is one of Indonesia’s most active volcanoes.

Mount Merapi volcano eruption in 2006. Photo: AP. Image may be subject to copyright.

Mount Merapi rumbled for many hours before spewing smoke on Tuesday. Photo shows volcano from Balerante, Central Java, Indonesia. Merapi last erupted in 2006. About 1,400 people have been killed as a result of 3 previous eruptions since 1930. Image Credit: AP. Caption: Fire-Earth.

Merapi, one of Indonesia’s most active volcanoes, lies in one of the world’s most densely populated areas and dominates the landscape immediately north of the major city of Yogyakarta. Merapi is the youngest and southernmost of a volcanic chain extending NNW to Ungaran volcano. Growth of Old Merapi volcano beginning during the Pleistocene ended with major edifice collapse perhaps about 2000 years ago, leaving a large arcuate scarp cutting the eroded older Batulawang volcano. Subsequently growth of the steep-sided Young Merapi edifice, its upper part unvegetated due to frequent eruptive activity, began SW of the earlier collapse scarp. Pyroclastic flows and lahars accompanying growth and collapse of the steep-sided active summit lava dome have devastated cultivated lands on the volcano’s western-to-southern flanks and caused many fatalities during historical time. The volcano is the object of extensive monitoring efforts by the Merapi Volcano Observatory. Photo by Yustinus Sulistiyo, 1994 (Volcanological Survey of Indonesia); caption: GVP

Latest Entries:

• Tsunami Claims 200 After 7.7Mw Quake Strikes Indonesia

Mt Sinabung Links:

• Sinabung Erupts Again
• Mount Sinabung Erupts

Related Links:

• FEWW Volcano Links
• Volcanoes
• FEWW Earthquake Links
• Earth’s Climate: A Solar Powered System

FEWW Volcanic Activity Forecast

• Sumatra’s Mt Kerinci Erupts
• Volcano Watch Weekly: 23 April 2009
• Weekly Volcano Watch: 16 April 2009
• Weekly Volcano Watch: 2 April 2009

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