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[font=Verdana,]One of Indonesia's most active volcanos has erupted, sending lava and searing gas clouds tumbling down its slopes. Volcanology official Agus Budianto said Friday that authorities were still trying to evacuate residents living along the slopes of Mount Karangetang. There were no immediate reports of injuries or serious damage. The 5,853-foot (1,784-meter) mountain is located on Siau, part of the Sulawesi island chain. It last erupted in August, killing four people. Indonesia, the world's largest archipelago, is located on the so-called Pacific "Ring of Fire," an arc of volcanos and fault lines encircling the Pacific Basin. The eruption happened hours after a massive earthquake in Japan that triggered a Pacific-wide tsunami.[/font]
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[/font]Situation Update No. 1
On 18.03.2011 at 15:10 GMT+2
Indonesia issued a red alert Friday after Mount Karangetang on the island of Sulawesi erupted, sending lava and searing gas clouds down its slopes, a volcanologist said. "We raised the volcano's status to the highest red alert level today at 5:45 pm (1045GMT) and ordered an evacuation in three villages on the slopes," government volcanologist Surono said. He said that the 1,784-meter (5,850-foot) mountain on the sparsely-populated island off North Sulawesi oozed lava, heat clouds and debris reaching as far as 3,800 meters away down its slopes. "The eruption is still going on and its current activity remains high," he said. "The main threat is heat clouds that will be fatal for people living in villages on the slope." The volcano killed four people during an eruption in August 2010. Indonesia sits on the Pacific "Ring of Fire" where continental plates collide, causing frequent seismic and volcanic activity. The archipelago nation is home to 129 active volcanoes, including 21 on Java.[/font]
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Situation Update No. 2
On 19.03.2011 at 04:08 GMT+2
A red alert has been issued in Indonesia, after Mount Karangetang erupted. Karangetang spewed hot clouds of ash and trapped up to 40 people between lava flows on its slopes overnight as the government raised an alert for the peak to the highest level and evacuated villages. Lava streamed 1,500 metres down the volcano on Siau Island in North Sulawesi province and hot clouds rose 3,800 metres into the air, the head of the country's vulcanology agency said. "We've ordered the villages to be emptied," agency chief Surono told Reuters. The island is sparsely populated but people live near the peak where the land is fertile. A government official in the region said three villages, of about 300 people in all, had been evacuated but 40 people were trapped between two rivers filled with lava. It was not clear if the trapped people were still alive. The volcano erupts frequently but Surono said the alert was raised because of the size of the hot clouds. Indonesia, on the Pacific "ring of fire", has dozens of active volcanoes. Hot ash clouds from Mount Bromo on the main island of Java in January led several airlines to cancel flights to the tourist destination of Bali.[/font][/font]
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Situation Update No. 3
On 19.03.2011 at 07:16 GMT+2
Indonesia said it had evacuated hundreds of people living near Mount Karangetang off northern Sulawesi island as authorities issued a red alert on Saturday following its eruption. Nearly 600 people live in three villages four kilometres (2.4 miles) from the volcano's western peak, from which lava continues to spew as it disgorges heat clouds, government volcanologist Kristianto said. "The process to evacuate 582 villagers has completed. All are now at safety shelters and nobody was injured," he said from the volcano's monitoring post. "The volcano is still in the phase of eruption. We detected lava flow which reached as far as 1,800 metres (5,905 feet)," he added. The 1,784-metre Karangetan, which forms the northern part of the remote Siau Island in North Sulawesi, killed four people during an eruption in August 2010. The Indonesian archipelago has dozens of active volcanoes and straddles major tectonic fault lines known as the "Ring of Fire" between the Pacific and Indian oceans. The country's most active volcano, Mount Merapi in central Java, has killed more than 350 people in a series of violent eruptions which started in late October.[/font][/font][/font]
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