Indonesia’s Mount Lokon erupts again

MANADO, INDONESIA (BNO NEWS) — Indonesia’s Mount Lokon, which is located on the northern tip of the island of Sulawesi, erupted again on Wednesday, local authorities said.

Farid Ruskanda Bina, the Mount Lokon and Mahawu Kakaskaben monitoring post chief, said Mount Lokon began to spew volcanic ash at around 1.25 p.m. local time. Ash fell as far away as the Kinilow I village and the Tinoor areas in North Tomohon sub district, which is a short distance from Lokon’s crater.

Mount Lokon’s activity had been quickly increasing since Tuesday as more tremors were being detected, the Antara news agency reported. The monitoring post recorded 25 tremors from 1 to 6 a.m. local time on Wednesday.

Since June, Mount Lokon has shown constant volcanic activity, prompting authorities to raise its status to alert on June 27 and watch on July 10. A series of eruptions in mid July forced at least 5,269 locals from the villages of Kinilow, Kelurahan Kinilow I and Kakaskasen 1 to evacuate the area.

While most residents returned to their homes later that month, some 222 people remain at temporary refugee camps because their homes are in Mound Lokon’s red zone – 3 kilometers (1.86 miles) from its crater. After July’s activity, Mount Lokon’s alert level was lowered from watchful to alert, and has remained at this level since.

Dozens of active volcanoes in Indonesia are part of the Pacific Ring of Fire, known for frequent earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. Next to Mount Lokon is its volcanic twin, Mount Empung, just 2.2 kilometers (1.3 miles) away.

One of Indonesia’s most active volcanoes is Mount Merapi, which is located on the island of Java near Jogjakarta, the country’s second-most visited area after Bali. Last year, more than 300 people were killed in a series of eruptions between October and November that also displaced over 300,000 people.