JAKARTA, Jan 16 — Authorities have begun evacuating 3,000 residents near the Mount Ibu volcano on Indonesia's eastern island of Halmahera, the disaster agency said today, after an eruption this week sent a cloud of thick grey ash as high as four-km into the sky.
Ibu erupted yesterday morning for about two minutes, Indonesia's volcanology agency said, forcing authorities to raise the alert level in the surrounding areas to the most severe.
The evacuations started late yesterday for about 3,000 residents around the area who were being prioritised due to their proximity to the volcano, Abdul Muhari, a spokesperson for the country's disaster mitigation agency, told Reuters.
He had previously said 13,000 people were living near the volcano.
— Reuters
