The Jakarta Post, 7/10/2007 1:39:02 PM
3,000 people flee spewing Mount Gamkonora in Halmahera,
Maluku
JAKARTA (Antara): Some 3,000 people have fled the slopes of Mount Gamkonora, a
volcano in Halmahera Island in Maluku, after it spewed ash, smoke and other volcanic
debris, a local official said Tuesday.
"Up until today, some 3,000 people from eight villages on the slopes of Gamkonora
have left their homes for safer grounds," said Penta Libela, the deputy district chief of
West Halmahera.
Mount Gamkonora, about 2,700 kilometers (1,600 miles) northeast of the Indonesian
capital Jakarta, was on Monday placed on a level three alert, one level below the top
warning which signals an imminent eruption.
Ash and smoke shot up as high as two kilometers from the peak on Monday and
soared a kilometer into the air Tuesday.
"It is not an official evacuation program. The population panicked because of the
eruption and fled on their own and as the local government, we are merely helping by
providing more vehicles and assigning temporary shelters," Libela said.
Four villages, each more than 20 kilometers away from the crater, are accommodating
most of the displaced.
The 1,635-metre (5,461-foot) volcano was relatively calmer on Tuesday, Libela said.
"There are small eruptions that release volcanic material, including ash, and smoke,
but according to the Meteorology and Geophysics Agency (BMG), these are not
serious eruptions," Libela said.
The ash blanketed some villages on the volcano's slopes on Monday, he said, but he
could not immediately say whether the ash was raining on any other areas on
Tuesday.
Libela said there were no reports of casualties.
Indonesia sits on the so-called "Pacific Ring of Fire," where continental plates meet,
causing frequent volcanic and seismic activity. The archipelago nation has the world's
highest number of active volcanoes.
Gamkonora has erupted 12 times, the most recently in 1987. (**)
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