Locals warned of Mt. Lokon eruption

TOMOHON, North Sulawesi: Mount Lokon in the town of Tomohon, some 25 kilometers from the North Sulawesi capital of Manado, is showing signs of eruption, a volcanologist said on Tuesday.

Villagers living on the slopes of the volcano have been warned to be on the alert of a possible eruption, as it had become about 300 percent more active than normal, Mount Lokon monitoring post head Jemmy Runtuwene said.

"At a normal level of activity, only five volcanic quakes occur daily. Now, the number of quakes has increased to 20 times a day," he explained.

Jemmy said the mountain was also spewing smoke from its crater to a height of five to 26 meters. -- JP