Over 16,000 People Evacuated After Mount Sinabung Volcano Eruptions

Sumatra Volcanic Explosion

People living on the Sumatra Island are facing danger as Mount Sinabung volcano erupted and more than 16,000 people were evacuated from their homes. Government has provided shelter for people and officials have decided to cancel certain flights in this region for passengers’ safety. Mount Sinabung is a volcano which has registered no activity for the past 400 years, leading to evacuation of people living in areas within a 6 km radius of this volcano. The volcano erupted this morning, leading to black ash blown 2 kilometers up in the air. Several villagers have been affected and relief workers are struggling to provide people with medical aid and shelter. The main problems that Red Cross workers noticed as far as villagers’ health is concerned are respiratory problems due to inhaling volcanic ash and toxic air.

The Red Cross has also provided people with thousands of masks to cover their faces and prevent any more respiratory problems due to smoke and thick ash in the atmosphere.

The spokesman of the National Disaster Management Agency, Priyadi Kardono stated that: “Since this is the first eruption we’ve had in Sinabung, we’re anticipating residents to remain at the shelters for at least a week while waiting for further status alert”.

As expected, people living nearby the volcano began to panic during the overnight eruption and even people living in safe areas were taken to refuge shelters. There were no roads and bridges damaged, even if the first blast took place yesterday. Officials are monitoring this unexpected situation in order to anticipate further reactions from Mount Sinabung. Even if there are no reports of death or severe injuries, authorities plan on keeping people in government shelters for the entire week or until further notice.11