Just days after devastating earthquake and tsunami struck Indonesia’s Sulawesi island, a volcano eruption rocked the same island.
Located in Indonesia’s North Sulawesi, Mount Soputan—about 400 miles from the city of Palu, erupted yesterday morning (03/10) around 8.47am, producing volcanic ash as high as 4,000m, as reported by Bloomberg via the Strait Times.
The residents have been ordered to steer clear within a radius of 4km as Mount Soputan signals Level III Status (Standby). However, Sam Ratulangi International Airport in Manado—the capital city of North Sulawesi still continues to operate normally.
Head of Indonesia’s Vulcanology and Geology Disaster Mitigation agency, Kasbani said it's possible that the eruption of Mount Soputan, was expedited by 7.5 magnitude temblor that occurred on last Friday (28/09).
"It could be that this earthquake triggered the eruption, but the direct correlation has yet to be seen," Kasbani told Tempo.co.
On the same day, Wednesday (03/10), the Jakarta Post also reported Mount Anak Krakatau that is located in Indonesia’s Sunda Strait, Lampung, had erupted around 156 times since Tuesday (02/10).
According to the Meteorology, Climatology, and Geophysics Agency (BMKG), the mount has previously erupted in September 2018. However, according to Kasbani, there will be no massive eruption emitted by Mount Anak Krakatau since the mount is still developing its whole formation. Based on his explanation, additional materials were found in Mount Anak Krakatau each year and it keeps adding to establish a bigger formation of the mountain, as told by MetroTV News on Tuesday (02/10).
“Thus, the volcano is not yet able to produce a bigger eruption as it is still developing its formation,” Kasbani concluded.