Jakarta - Indonesian experts downgraded Monday the alert status of Mount Gamkonora in the country's eastern province of North Maluku, allowing thousands of residents who had fled the area to return to the their homes. After placing the 1,635-metre-high volcano on top alert status for a week, leading to the evacuation of thousands of residents to makeshift shelters, scientists said the Gamkonora volcano on Halmahera Island now appeared to be calming down.
"As of after midnight Sunday, we have downgraded Mount Gamkonora's status from 'state of alert' to level three," Saud Simatupang, head of the state-run Volcanological Survey, told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.
Simatupang said in the last three days Mount Gamkonora's activity has been declining, which may allow experts to reduce the danger status, adding that the volcano's seismic activity and volcanic tremors have declined while only fumes were coming from the crater.
"The smoke spewing from Gamkonora's crater was also much lower, only between 50 to 100 metres high," he explained. He said such a small eruption would not reach more than a radius of three kilometres from its crater.
Mount Gamkonora in North Maluku province, 2,380 kilometres north-east of Jakarta, erupted on July 9 when the volcano began spewing hot ash and thick smoke up to 4,000 metres, prompting volcanologists to upgrade its status to top alert.
No casualties or damage has been reported, but more than 9,000 people living on the danger zone had been evacuated to as far as 20 kilometres away. Many displaced residents were suffering from breathing problems and diarrhoea, officials said.
Mount Gamkonora's last eruption was in 1987, but no casualties were reported.
