Indonesia’s Mount Lewotobi Laki Laki erupted once again on Thursday, sending massive columns of ash into the sky. The eruption was even more intense than the one that occurred just three days earlier, which killed nine people and injured dozens.
Luckily, there were no reports of casualties from the recent eruption. Residents living within a 7-kilometer (4.3-mile) danger zone around the volcano had been evacuated to safer locations in nearby villages, according to Kensius Didimus, an official with the local disaster agency.
The 1,584-meter (5,197-foot) volcano, located on the remote island of Flores, released ash in 11 separate blasts on Thursday. The largest of these columns reached an impressive height of 8,000 meters (26,240 feet), almost 5 miles into the air. Hadi Wijaya, head of the Center for Volcanology and Geological Disaster Mitigation, provided this information.
Since Monday's eruption, which had caused significant destruction, the volcano had shown less activity. That eruption affected more than 10,000 people across 10 villages, with nearly 6,000 individuals seeking shelter in temporary emergency camps. The blast had also destroyed several buildings, including seven schools, almost two dozen homes, and a convent on the majority-Catholic island.
In addition to the ash, volcanic rocks, lava, and fragments of gravel were hurled up to 7 kilometers (4.3 miles) from the crater during the eruption. Officials discovered craters, some as wide as 13 meters (43 feet) and as deep as 5 meters (16 feet), where rocks had fallen, including one at a demolished school.
“We’re seeing a different eruption pattern compared to January’s eruption,” said Wijaya. “The earlier event mostly involved volcanic materials falling around the peak, with lava flows.” He added that the government is continuing to analyze the volcanic activity to determine a safer location for any potential future relocations.
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