Villages Covered in Ash After Volcano Erupts in Indonesia

A volcano on Indonesia’s Sumatra island sent columns of ash shooting into the sky on Monday, prompting a “code red” warning to airlines by an Australian agency monitoring volcanic ash. Villages in the Karo region near the volcano were covered in layers of grey ash, which settled on trees and the tops of buildings, motorcycles and cars, ABC News reported.

Villagers were forced to wear masks.

Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, a spokesman for Indonesia’s Disaster Agency, said the eruption began on Monday morning, accompanied by multiple earthquakes and showering surrounding villages with small rocks.

“In five districts it became dark with a visibility of about five metres,” he said.

No casualties were reported. The agency urged the public to stay out of a 7km exclusion zone around the crater and watch for further warnings, which could cover floods. Mount Sinabung has been erupting intermittently since 2010 after being dormant for centuries. Thousands have been displaced in the surrounding area, and continued seismic activity has kept the alert level at its highest point since June 2015.

Mount Sinabung is one of three currently active volcanoes in Indonesia, which is located on the Pacific “Ring of Fire,” an area of concentrated seismic activity due to the presence of tectonic fault lines in the region.

Last year, the eruption of Mount Agung in Bali forced the cancellation of several flights, grounding thousands of tourists and sparking an evacuation order for 100,000 residents.