Indonesia volcano in ‘biggest ’ eruption this year

JAKARTA : Indonesia ’ s Mount Sinabung volcano experienced its biggest eruption of the year this week, spewing clouds of gas and showering ash into the sky, a local official said Friday.
The volcano , which roared back to life in 2010 after four centuries of silence , has been erupting steadily since 2015 , displacing more than 3 , 000 families.

Wednesday ’ s eruption “was the biggest eruption this year , given the reach of the pyroclastic flow and the size of the area covered by the ashes ”, local disaster agency chief Nata Nail told AFP .
Thousands were affected by the shower of volcanic ashes on the island of Sumatra but no one was severely injured because the dangerous zone was vacated earlier , Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, a spokesman for Indonesia ’ s disaster mitigation agency , said .

The eruption sent volanic ash down Sinabung ’ s slopes , destroying crops and causing misery to hundreds of farmers.

In May last year seven people were killed when Sinabung erupted, while a February 2014 eruption left 16 people dead .

Another Indonesian volcano , Mount Agung on the tourist paradise of Bali, has also been rumbling since September , forcing the evacuation of 140 , 000 people living nearby and prompting the closure of the island’ s international airport .

Indonesia , the world’ s most active volcanic region, lies on the Pacific “Ring of Fire ” where tectonic plates collide , causing frequent volcanic and seismic activities .