PADANG, Indonesia (AP) 鈥� One of Indonesia鈥檚 most active volcanoes erupted Sunday, spewing thick columns of ash at least three times and blanketing villages with debris, but no casualties were reported.
Mount Marapi, in Agam district of the province of West Sumatra, is known for sudden eruptions that are difficult to predict because they are not caused by a deep movement of magma, which sets off tremors that register on seismic monitors.
It unleashed hot ash clouds that spread for several miles, covering nearby villages and towns with thick volcanic residue, said Ahmad Rifandi, an official with Indonesia鈥檚 Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation Center at the Marapi monitoring post. It also shot ash columns as high as 2,000 meters (6,560 feet).
Rifandi said the nearly 2,900-meter (9,480-foot) volcano has stayed at the second highest of four alert levels since January, prohibiting climbers and villagers within 3 kilometers (1.8 miles) from the crater鈥檚 mouth because of potential lava.
2023, killing 24 climbers and injuring several others who were caught by its sudden weekend eruption. Two climbing routes in the mountain have been closed since then.
Sunday鈥檚 eruption came five months after of mud and cold lava from Mount Marapi, causing rivers to breach their banks. The deluge tore through mountainside villages and swept away people and dozens of homes,
鈥淰illagers are still haunted by the flash floods of cold lava as rainy season is coming,鈥� Rifandi said, 鈥淏ut they have learned an important lesson on how to avoid the danger of eruption.鈥�
Indonesia, an archipelago of 282 million people, is prone to earthquakes and volcanic activity because it sits along the 鈥淩ing of Fire,鈥� a horseshoe-shaped series of seismic fault lines around the Pacific Ocean.
John Nedy, The Associated Press
