Mount Merapi credit, Lee Siebert, Smithsonian Institution
Indonesia's Mount Merapi volcano spewed avalanches of hot clouds Thursday morning as more than 500 residents were evacuated from its fertile slopes. The fog was covering the volcano at the time, so the distance the pyroclastic clouds spread was not visually observed. The amplitude record and seismic recording data from the Geological Disaster Technology Research and Development Center estimated the hot clouds spread less than 1 kilometer (0.6 miles) from the crater.
Local authorities on Thursday evacuated more than 500 people living on the mountain in Magelang district on Java Island. "Until now, the potential danger is not more than 5 kilometers (3 miles)," chief of Yogyakarta's Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation Center, Hanik Humaida, said in a statement. The geological authority had raised the alert level of Mount Merapi to the second-highest level in November after sensors picked up increasing activity. Tourism and mining activities were halted.
The 2,968-meter (9,737-foot) mountain is about 30 kilometers (18 miles) from the Yogyakarta city center. About a quarter-million people live within 10 kilometers (6 miles) of the volcano, according to authorities in surrounding districts. It spewed ash and hot gas in a column as high as 6 kilometers (3.7 miles) into the sky in June, but no casualties were reported. Its last major eruption in 2010 killed 347 people and caused the evacuation of 20,000 villagers. Indonesia, an archipelago of more than 250 million people, sits on the Pacific "Ring of Fire" and is prone to earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. Government seismologists monitor more than 120 active volcanoes.
Sinabung volcano (Sumatra, Indonesia): A series of eruptions occurred from the high activity volcano over the past few days. During 3-5 January, the explosions generated ash plumes that rose to an estimated 10,000 ft-12,000 ft (3,000 m-3,600 m) altitude and drifted W-SW direction. Visibility of the explosions is limited due to dense clouds. Incandescent blocks from the actively growing lava dome slid down over the slopes and caused avalanches of material. The warning bulletin states that ballistic impacts of volcanic bombs and pyroclastic flows could affect an area of about 3 km distance from the main crater and 5 km on the SE flank and 4 km on the NE flank. The Volcanic Alert Level
Mount Sinabung Credit, Arteri Project — Travail personnel Wikipedia
A powerful (M6.1) rocked Minahasa, Sulawesi, Indonesia last night making it the 3rd major quake, (mag 6 or higher) to strike in the last 4 days after a powerful, magnitude 6.2 quake shook the Kermadec Islands region just north of New Zealand yesterday and magnitude 6.1 struck the Andreanof Islands, Aleutian Islands in Alaska 4 days ago. Last night's mag 6.1 was the 3rd major quake, (mag 6 or higher) of January 2021.
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