Jakarta - Thousands of villagers living on the slopes of Mount Gamkonora in eastern Indonesian province of North Maluku have been evacuated as the volcano spewed hot ash and smoke into the sky, a volcanology expert said Tuesday. "By this (Tuesday) morning, around 8,000 residents living on the danger zone areas had been evacuated to the safe area," vulcanologist M Hendrasto said in the West Java capital of Bandung.
Hendrasto said the Gamkonora volcano spewed hot ash and black smoke from its crater up to about 3,000 metres into the sky.
The 1,325-metre Mount Gamkonora volcano on Halmahera Island in North Maluku province, about 2,380 kilometres north-east of Jakarta, erupted on Monday afternoon, prompting volcanologists to declare the situation a "state of alert" leading to the evacuation of people living in the danger zone.
"We have ordered the local government authorities to evacuate residents living at a radius of 8 kilometres from the volcano's crater," Hendrasto said. "As of Monday afternoon, we have been monitoring the volcano's activity round-the-clock."
He said a team of vulcanologists went to Halmahera island on Monday night and were expected to arrive at the volcano on Wednesday.
An official at the West Halmahera district said the fleeing residents were sheltered at school and government buildings, while plastic tents, food supplies and drinking water had been sent.
Mount Gamkonora's last eruption was in 1997, which claimed no lives but forced thousands of residents to flee the area surrounding the mountain.
The Indonesian archipelago, straddling the seismically active "Ring of Fire," has the world's highest density of volcanoes. Of its 500 volcanoes, 128 are active and 65 are listed as dangerous.
