Mount Ruang is a stratovolcano located in the province of North Sulawesi, north of that Southeast Asian country. The phenomenon left several people injured and caused the evacuation of more than 1,600 people.
The Indonesian Disaster Management Agency indicated that 828 people had been evacuated in the Sitaro district, while another 783 sought shelter in relatives' homes on Tagulandang Island. There is fear over the possibility of tsunamis after the volcano erupted three times on Wednesday night, sending ash clouds up to 3,000 meters high and causing small earthquakes. The Australian Department of Meteorology noted yesterday in a statement on "volcanic ash alerts" that the Ruang smoke column would have reached 19,000 feet high. The last eruption of the volcano on Wednesday was so large that it could be captured by satellite images and has created a large cloud that affects the annexed islands, the agency said. The agency warned of the risk of more eruptions that could cause tsun amis.