Volcano erupts on Indonesia’s Sulawesi Island

By Munira Abdelmenan Awel

ANKARA

A volcano erupted on the northern part of Indonesia's Sulawesi Island on Wednesday morning, local media reported.

According to Indonesian Center for Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation, the 1,809-meter Mt. Soputan erupted at 8.47 a.m. local time (0147GMT) with ash columns reaching 4 kilometers (2.4 miles) from its summit.

No casualties has been reported immediately, according to Kyodo News, a local news agency.

Over the last two months, four earthquakes with magnitudes 7.4, 6.3, 6.9, and 7 hit the eastern island of Lombok of the Southeast Asian nation.

The death toll from the latest 7.4-magnitude earthquake and tsunami in Sulawesi has risen to 1,347, according to the country’s Disaster Management Agency (BNPB).

The UN has estimated that 66,000 homes and vital infrastructure were damaged, including roads and bridges.

Search and rescue work in collapsed buildings throughout the region continues.

Indonesia lies within the Pacific Ocean’s "Ring of Fire" where tectonic plates collide and cause frequent seismic and volcanic activity.

On Dec. 26, 2004, a magnitude 9.1 earthquake struck the eastern coast of Sumatra, triggering a tsunami that killed around 230,000 people as it tore along the coasts of Sri Lanka, India, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Thailand.