Indonesian Volcano Calms As Hundreds More Evacuated

SHAKE AND BLOW

Gamkonora, some 2,700 kilometres (1,600 miles) northeast of Jakarta, has erupted 12 times since records have been kept, most recently 20 years ago. Photo courtesy AFP.

by Staff Writers
Jakarta (AFP) July 12, 2007
Activity at a smouldering Indonesian volcano appeared to ease slightly Thursday as hundreds more people were evacuated from its arid slopes, geologists and officials said. Mount Gamkonora, a 1,635-metre (5,461-foot) high volcano on Halmahera island in North Maluku province has been spewing rocks, ash and smoke into the air since Monday and experts fear an eruption could be imminent.

"In the first six hours of today (Thursday), we have registered only one earthquake due to an eruption and another due to the release of smoke," said Saud Simatupang, from Indonesia's volcanology office headquarters in Bandung.

"There are indications that the energy level is weakening," he told AFP, adding however that heavy cloud obscured the volcano's peak, making visual observation difficult.

White smoke could only be seen drifting some 200 metres (yards) above the crater, he said.

A further 1,100 people were evacuated from 11 villages to safe shelters overnight, Sulaiman, an information officer for North Maluku, said from the capital Ternate.

He said some 9,758 people, or nearly 2,000 families, were sheltering at three designated safe areas, up from more than 8,600 a day earlier. Evacuation operations were ongoing, he added.

The government had sent food, tents, blankets and mats but more help was needed, he said.

Indonesia sits on the so-called "Pacific Ring of Fire" where continental plates meet, causing frequent volcanic and seismic activity. The archipelago nation has the world's highest number of active volcanoes.

Gamkonora, some 2,700 kilometres (1,600 miles) northeast of Jakarta, has erupted 12 times since records have been kept, most recently 20 years ago.

Source: Agence France-Presse

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SHAKE AND BLOW

Indonesian Volcano Spits Debris As Hundreds More Flee

Jakarta (AFP) July 11, 2007
A smouldering Indonesian volcano shot rocks, ash and smoke into the air for the third consecutive day Wednesday as hundreds more villagers deserted its slopes, police and scientists said. Volcanologists warned on Tuesday that an eruption of Mount Gamkonora, located on the northeastern island of Halmahera may be imminent.

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