In the past few hours, the eruption of the well-known Ruang volcano in Indonesia has produced stunning images that have become a trend on social media. Natural phenomena continue to capture attention following the storms in Dubai and the earthquakes in Fukushima and New York.
The Eruption of the Ruang Volcano in Indonesia
The Ruang volcano, standing at 725 meters tall and located on a small homonymous island about 5 kilometers wide, has experienced significant activity in recent days, including four strong eruptions that occurred early Thursday morning. Emergency teams have evacuated at least 1600 people, including the entire population of the volcano island and some residents on the coast of the neighboring island of Tagulandang, which has about 22,000 inhabitants and is approximately 4 kilometers north of the Ruang crater.
“People living in the Tagulandang island area within a radius of 6 kilometers (from the crater) must be evacuated immediately to a safe place,” Indonesia’s Disaster Management Agency stated in a release.
The volcano monitoring agency raised the volcano alert level to IV late Wednesday night after Ruang emitted ash clouds up to 3000 meters high and caused small earthquakes. According to the Zoom Earth portal, which monitors meteorological phenomena, an eruption of the volcano on Wednesday night was so large that it could be captured by satellite images and created a large cloud that affected neighboring islands. Images taken on Thursday show the volcano’s slope covered by a gray blanket of ash.
Meanwhile, the Japan Meteorological Agency is studying whether a potential tsunami could impact the country’s west coast, nearly 4000 kilometers away from the volcano while noting that it has not observed “significant changes in sea level” following the eruptions last night. The Darwin Volcanic Ash Advisory Center in Australia noted in its latest statement that material ejected by Ruang could reach heights of up to 16,700 meters.
The ash expulsion has forced the closure of Manado International Airport, the capital of North Sulawesi province and located about 70 kilometers southwest of the volcano, affecting at least a dozen flights, most of them domestic.
Tsunami Warning Due to the Ruang Volcano in Indonesia
Indonesia warned on Thursday of a potential tsunami that could affect the central region of the Asian archipelago following the ongoing eruptions of the Ruang volcano in the Celebes Islands while continuing evacuation efforts for more than 1600 people.
“Residents of Tagulandand island, especially those living near the coast, should exercise caution due to the potential ejection of incandescent rocks, smoke columns, and a tsunami caused by the collapse of parts of the volcano into the sea,” Indonesia’s Volcanology Department stated in a release published on its portal.
Authorities seek to prevent a scenario similar to the one caused by the eruption of the Anak Krakatoa volcano, located in the Sunda Strait between the islands of Java and Sumatra, which on December 22, 2018, triggered a landslide that in turn generated a tsunami that left at least 426 dead.
This story was written in Spanish by Miguel Fernandez in Cultura Colectiva News.
