Hundreds flee Awu volcano

Jongker Rumthe, Manado

Hundreds of villagers fled their homes on Friday as Mount Awu in the Sangihe islands, North Sulawesi, continued to belch out ash and smoke.

Local authorities issued an official warning to residents living on the slopes of the 1,320-meter-high volcano after it became more active on Thursday.

"Mount Awu's activities have increased, so we have issued a warning for residents," said Saut Simatupang, the volcano monitoring subdirectorate head for Sulawesi and Maluku provinces.

He said a seismograph belonging to the local volcanology office had recorded activity coming from the mountain, which is also discharging hot smoke and ash.

The volcanic activities panicked residents in the villages of Manente, Kolongan, Kendahe and North Tabukan, prompting hundreds of residents to flee.

"It is better to avoid an eruption than to wait for the worse," Rony, 32, an evacuee from Manente, told The Jakarta Post by phone from the North Sulawesi capital of Manado.

Sangihe volcanology office head Hendrik Bina said experts were monitoring the mountain.

"Should there be an increase in the level of alert, we will certainly ask all residents to take refuge immediately," he said.

He urged people not to panic but to remain alert.

Hendrik said that based on the seismographic activity, lava was attempting to spew out from the volcano's crater. "We cannot determine yet whether the mountain is going to erupt or not."

Sangihe Regent Winsulangi Salindeho also called on villagers to stay calm but alert.

The local administration is coordinating with all relevant agencies to anticipate the possibility of a volcanic explosion.

Mount Awu is one of the most active volcanoes in Indonesia. It erupted in 1640, 1641 and 1977, with no recorded casualties.

The volcano also erupted in 1711, leaving some 3,000 people dead and hundreds of houses and hectares of farmland destroyed. Another eruption in 1812 left at least 2,806 people dead.

Awu erupted again in 1856, claiming more than 2,000 lives. The last fatal eruption was recorded in 1966, when at least 39 people were killed.