More than 2,000 residents have been evacuated to temporary shelters after a volcano erupted on the eastern Indonesian island of Flores, a local official said on Tuesday.
The Lewotobi Laki-Laki volcano, located in the province of Nusa Tengarra, east of the island of Flores, has erupted several times in recent weeks.
Four kilometer exclusion zone
On Monday, volcanic ash was thrown 1.5 kilometers above its summit, according to the Center for Volcanology and Geological Hazards Mitigation (PVMBG). On Tuesday, another eruption occurred without ash projection, according to the same source.
Faced with the increased activity of the volcano, some 2,200 residents living nearby were evacuated to temporary shelters, said Benediktus Bolibapa Herin, head of the East Flores district. On Monday, the authorities raised the alert level to 2nd, on a scale of four, and extended the exclusion zone around the crater from 2 to 4 km. The ash projections also forced the closure of Frans Seda airport, located 80 km away, which serves the town of Maumere, since Monday, according to the Antara agency.
Last month, 23 people, hikers, were killed following the eruption of Mount Marapi, in western Indonesia.