Hanoi (VNA) - Indonesian authorities on May 16 raised the alert level for Mount Ibu, a volcano in North Maluku province, to the highest (Level 4) following a series of eruptions since last week.
Mount Ibu, located on remote Halmahera island in eastern Indonesia, erupted on May 11, belching a tower of volcanic ash 5,000 metres above its peak. It has been showing significantly increasing volcanic activity since mid-April and a series of earthquakes indicated mounting pressure because of magma migrating to the volcano's surface.
Residents living near Ibu and tourists have been advised to stay out of a four- to seven-kilometre exclusion zone from the peak and to wear a face mask in case of falling ash.
Indonesia, an archipelago of 270 million people, has 127 active volcanoes. It is prone to volcanic activity because it sits along the “Ring of Fire”, a horseshoe-shaped series of seismic fault lines around the Pacific Ocean.
Ibu is one of Indonesia's most active volcanos, erupting more than 21,000 times in 2023. More than 700,000 people lived on Halmahera island as of 2022, according to official figures.
In April, Mount Ruang in North Sulawesi province erupted more than half a dozen times, forcing more than 12,000 of residents of nearby islands to evacuate./.
