Thousands flee Indonesia volcano

[Turborama]

Source: Al Jazeera English

Indonesia has issued a red alert after the Sinabung volcano on the western island of Sumatra erupted for the first time in 400 years.

The volcano spewed smoke and ash 1,500 metres into the air, forcing the evacuation of thousands of people from the Karo district in North Sumatra on Sunday.

"Initially we thought the ash and smoke were triggered by rain but now we know the driving pressure was from magma," Surono, the head of the nation's volcano disaster alert centre, told the AFP news agency.

"It's clearly dangerous so we've raised the warning to the highest level, or red level. From the crater, it shot smoke and volcanic ash 1,500 metres into the sky," he added.

Read more: http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia-pacific/2010/2010/08/201082931551179283.html

---

At least 10,000 people living near the Sinabung vulcano have been evacuated (AFP)

Can't find any more images of the eruption, but these pics show how large the volcano is...

[aquart]

1. How bad is this likely to get?

[Turborama]

2. I'm not sure

I'll keep you updated if/when I hear anything locally.

[Turborama]

5. I've seen footage on TV and there's lava coming out of it, a radius of 9KM has been evacuated

And people are breathing in the smoke up to 20KMs away.

I'm looking into if this one is connected to the "Supervolcano" at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Toba">Lake Toba....


If you haven't heard of it before, here's why it could mean big big trouble in store for everyone if it's a portent of things to come: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toba_catastrophe_theory">Toba Catastrophe Theory

[aquart]

11. Ah, the bottleneck.

Well, if this volcano erupted 400 years ago, then I don't think the current eruption will reach Toba proportions.

But I do suspect the changes in ice at the poles are putting different pressure on our tectonic plates and the magma beneath, so I expect a lot of volcanic activity as we adjust to the new normal.

[Turborama]

21. The Indonesian volcanologist I just saw on TV said they have no idea how it's going to behave

As it has been so long since it last erupted there are no records of its activity.

"The eruptions are very difficult to predict. We don’t have enough data on the volcano," Surono, a government volcanologist who uses only one name, told Al Jazeera.

"We don't know what set it off, how long it will continue or whether we should expect pyroclastic flows or more powerful eruptions."

From here (also the article I just added below): http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia-pacific/2010/08/20108308361474436.html

[Turborama]

6. Self delete

Due to an occurrence of weird instant duplication .

[CJvR]

23. Despite...

...super volcano speculations the Indonesian volcanoes can cause global diasters without going to quite such extremes. Tambora's eruption in 1815 caused the year without summer, and if this bomb have spent four centuries getting primed it could be explosive indeed. Then again it just might be a little pressure adjustment following the massive earthquake a few years back.

[Turborama]

24. Or, it could be a sign of more to come...

[sabrina 1]

3. 'hasn't erupted in 400 years'

I hope it doesn't blow like the one in Iceland recently. Are there residential areas near enough to be destroyed if it did?

[IndianaGreen]

14. Mayan calendar ends in 2012

I wonder if Yellowstone will blow up as it did in the film.

[sabrina 1]

15. I hope not. But if it does, a lot of people will be pretty spooked.

[TalkingDog]

16. Spooked? Spooked?! Ummm.....Yeah, call it that if it makes you feel better......

*gob smacked*

[sabrina 1]

17. No it doesn't make me feel better to contemplate

a disaster of any kind. Nor to acknowledge the beliefs of other people.

Use your own words if you have a problem with mine.

Your post is without substance, since you have nothing other than the information that you are gob-smackedd, I can't help you at all.

What's in a name, a rose by any other name would smell as sweet The Great Bard had a way of sorting out what was important ...

[TalkingDog]

18. Yellowstone Caldera: Super Volcano (Super as in BEYOND, not as in SWELL)

The way a super volcano differs from a regular one is first, there is no mountain peak. In a regular volcano when lava pours out and cools it creates a cone which builds up the mountain. If the lava passage is blocked off pressure builds and this causes an eruption. In a super volcano the magma never reaches the surface. Pressure just builds until it melts more rocks which becomes more magma. When the pressure becomes too much the entire surface above the magma chamber is blown off causing an eruption thousands of times larger than normal volcanoes. When these eruptions occur a huge amount of material is thrown out of the volcano, leaving a giant crater called a caldera. The Caldera at Yellowstone is so large it can be seen from space.

The last time Yellowstone had an eruption of that magnitude was 650,000 years ago. The caldera it left is 53 miles long and 28 miles wide, that’s roughly the size of the Los Angeles Basin. 3,000 square miles were subjected to a flow of pyroclastic material containing 240 cubic miles of hot ash and pumice. Ash was also thrown in to the atmosphere which blanketed most of North America.

So what would happen if another catastrophic eruption took place today? Bill McGuire, professor of geohazards at the Benfield Greig Hazard Research Centre at the University College of London said "magma would be flung 50 kilometers into the atmosphere. Within a thousand kilometers virtually all life would be killed by falling ash, lava flows and the sheer explosive force of the eruption. One thousand cubic kilometers of lava would pour out of the volcano, enough to coat the whole USA with a layer 5 inches thick <…> the bitter cold of Volcanic Winter to Planet Earth. Mankind may become extinct."

http://www.thisoldearth.net/thisoldblog/2006/05/yellowstone-national-parksuper-volcano.html
.................................

I think extinct is worse than spooked, don't you? ....unless you meant spooked like ghosts....

edited to give credit where credit is due

[aquart]

22. I hope it does. That's a little baby reaction.

Nothing that would cause a DNA bottleneck.

[hobbit709]

4. "Initially we thought the ash and smoke were triggered by rain"

Say what? A lahar can be triggered by rain but smoke???

[Odin2005]

12. I think they meant rain going into the crater.

[Turborama]

7. "Indonesia has issued a red alert" - video of a report from Al Jazeera English....

Indonesia has issued a red alert after the Sinabung volcano on the western island of Sumatra erupted for the first time in 400 years.

The volcano spewed smoke and ash 1,500 metres into the air, forcing the evacuation of thousands of people from the Karo district in North Sumatra on Sunday.

Azhar Sukri has the story: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7jx_ZQ9848g

[mainer]

8. More travel disruptions?

Are we talking another mass grounding of planes, this time in the Pacific?

[Turborama]

9. The major hubs in the area are Kuala Lumpur and Singapore

If the cloud continues and heads in that direction there will be massive disruption.

[liberal N proud]

10. Great, just in time for my visit to Singapore

Heading there on business.

[Odin2005]

13. YiKES! I hope all the folks there stay safe.

It seems like SE Asian volcanoes have a tendency of going BOOM in a big way (Krakatoa, Tambora, Toba, Pinatubo).

[Turborama]

19. BBC: Indonesia volcano erupts again (bigger eruption than the one on Sunday)

August 30 2010 Last updated at 06:03 GMT


Nearly 20,000 people living near the volcano
have left their homes for emergency shelters

Mount Sinabung volcano on the Indonesian island of Sumatra has erupted again, sending ash and smoke several kilometres into the atmosphere.

Thousands of people living near the mountain evacuated their homes to stay in government-provided shelters.

According to airport officials, some domestic flights in the region have been affected by the volcanic ash.

Mount Sinabung, long considered to be inactive, erupted for the first time in 400 years in the early hours of Sunday.

Mr Surono, a government vulcanologist, told the BBC that the volcano erupted again early on Monday, spewing black ash and soot two kilometres (1.24 miles) into the air.

He said the eruption was bigger than Sunday's.

More: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-11127918

[Turborama]

20. Al Jazeera English: Indonesian volcano erupts again

Mount Sinabung in North Sumatra spews out clouds of ash for second day in a row.


Airlines have been told to avoid Mount Sinabung as the volcano erupted for a second day in a row (AFP)

A volcano on the Indonesian island Sumatra that had been dormant for more than four centuries has erupted for the second day in a row.

Mount Sinabung was again spewing out towering clouds of ash on Monday, forcing the evacuation of more than 21,000 people. Some aircraft had to be diverted because of poor visibility.

Villagers living along the slopes of the Sinabung in North Sumatra province have packed up their belongings and headed to emergency shelters, mosques and churches, Andi Arief, a presidential adviser on disasters, said.

Their abandoned homes and crops were blanketed in heavy, grey soot, and the air was thick with the smell of sulphur.

Full article: http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia-pacific/2010/08/20108308361474436.html