• Ash from Mount Sinabung volcano covers a car and street following an eruption in Karo, North Sumatra, Indonesia. Antara Foto / Surianto Sembiring / via Reuters
    Ash from Mount Sinabung volcano covers a car and street following an eruption in Karo, North Sumatra, Indonesia. Antara Foto / Surianto Sembiring / via Reuters
  • Men clean volcanic ash from the street after Mount Sinabung volcano spewed thick volcanic ash across the area the day before in Karo, North Sumatra. Kadri Boy Tarigan / AFP
    Men clean volcanic ash from the street after Mount Sinabung volcano spewed thick volcanic ash across the area the day before in Karo, North Sumatra. Kadri Boy Tarigan / AFP
  • Students clean their school yard from ash after the Mount Sinabung volcano erupted on Monday at Payung village in Karo, North Sumatra. Antara Foto / Ahmad Putra / via Reuters
    Students clean their school yard from ash after the Mount Sinabung volcano erupted on Monday at Payung village in Karo, North Sumatra. Antara Foto / Ahmad Putra / via Reuters
  • Ash from Mount Sinabung volcano covers vegetable plants as villagers carry their belongings at Payung Village in Karo, North Sumatra. Antara Foto / Ahmad Putra / via Reuters
    Ash from Mount Sinabung volcano covers vegetable plants as villagers carry their belongings at Payung Village in Karo, North Sumatra. Antara Foto / Ahmad Putra / via Reuters
  • Tobacco leaves (L) sit covered with volcanic ash after Mount Sinabung volcano spewed thick volcanic ash across the area the day before in Karo, North Sumatra. Kadri Boy Tarigan / AFP
    Tobacco leaves (L) sit covered with volcanic ash after Mount Sinabung volcano spewed thick volcanic ash across the area the day before in Karo, North Sumatra. Kadri Boy Tarigan / AFP
  • An Indonesian man cleans volcanic ash from a roof of a house after Mount Sinabung volcano spewed thick volcanic ash across the area the day before in Karo, North Sumatra. Kadri Boy Tarigan / AFP
    An Indonesian man cleans volcanic ash from a roof of a house after Mount Sinabung volcano spewed thick volcanic ash across the area the day before in Karo, North Sumatra. Kadri Boy Tarigan / AFP
  • Men clean volcanic ash from the street after Mount Sinabung volcano spewed thick volcanic ash across the area the day before in Karo, North Sumatra. Kadri Boy Tarigan / AFP
    Men clean volcanic ash from the street after Mount Sinabung volcano spewed thick volcanic ash across the area the day before in Karo, North Sumatra. Kadri Boy Tarigan / AFP
  • Students prepare before the start of their class as Mount Sinabung is seen in the background, at an elementary school in Beganding, North Sumatra. Ahmad Putra / AP Photo
    Students prepare before the start of their class as Mount Sinabung is seen in the background, at an elementary school in Beganding, North Sumatra. Ahmad Putra / AP Photo
  • Students play before the start of their class as Mount Sinabung is seen in the background, at an elementary school in Beganding, North Sumatra. Ahmad Putra / AP Photo
    Students play before the start of their class as Mount Sinabung is seen in the background, at an elementary school in Beganding, North Sumatra. Ahmad Putra / AP Photo
  • Men washing away the fallen ash after nearby Mount Sinabung volcano erupted, in the town Karo North Sumatra. Ivan Damanik / AFP
    Men washing away the fallen ash after nearby Mount Sinabung volcano erupted, in the town Karo North Sumatra. Ivan Damanik / AFP

Asia

Clean-up begins after Mount Sinabung eruption 'annihilates' peak's summit

The volcano in North Sumatra, which has been active since 2010 after centuries of dormancy, erupted explosively on Monday

Associated Press

February 20, 2018

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The eruption of Indonesia's Mount Sinabung that shot ash 5 kilometreshigh also blew away much of the mountain's summit.

Before and after images from Indonesia's Center for Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation show an enormous chunk missing from the peak, which it called "completely annihilated."

Volcanologist Devy Kamil Syahbana said Tuesday that the chunk, known as the "lava dome," had a volume of at least 1.6 million cubic metres.

The volcano in North Sumatra, which has been active since 2010 after centuries of dormancy, erupted explosively on Monday morning.

Hot ash clouds rolled down its slopes, traveling as far as 4.9km from the crater, and ash reached Lhokseumawe, a city more than 260 kilometres to the northwest.

  • An Indonesian man takes a picture of the Mount Sinabung volcano as it spews thick volcanic ash into the air in Karo, North Sumatra. Endro Rusharyanto / AFP
    An Indonesian man takes a picture of the Mount Sinabung volcano as it spews thick volcanic ash into the air in Karo, North Sumatra. Endro Rusharyanto / AFP
  • Indonesian students walk as Mount Sinabung erupts in Karo, North Sumatra, Indonesia. Mount Sinabung erupted on February 19, blowing volcanic ash more than 5,000 metres in the sky. Sinabung is one of the most active volcanos in Indonesia. It erupted in 2010 and since then killed 17 people in eruptions in 2014 and another nine people in 2016. Sarianto Ojo Sembiring / EPA
    Indonesian students walk as Mount Sinabung erupts in Karo, North Sumatra, Indonesia. Mount Sinabung erupted on February 19, blowing volcanic ash more than 5,000 metres in the sky. Sinabung is one of the most active volcanos in Indonesia. It erupted in 2010 and since then killed 17 people in eruptions in 2014 and another nine people in 2016. Sarianto Ojo Sembiring / EPA
  • Indonesian students walk as Mount Sinabung erupts in Karo, North Sumatra, Indonesia. Sarianto Ojo Sembiring / AFP
    Indonesian students walk as Mount Sinabung erupts in Karo, North Sumatra, Indonesia. Sarianto Ojo Sembiring / AFP
  • Thick volcanic ash spews into the air from Mount Sinabung volcano in Karo, North Sumatra, on February 19, 2018. Endro Rusharyanto / AFP
    Thick volcanic ash spews into the air from Mount Sinabung volcano in Karo, North Sumatra, on February 19, 2018. Endro Rusharyanto / AFP
  • Ash from Mount Sinabung volcano rises. Antara Foto / Maz Yons / via Reuters
    Ash from Mount Sinabung volcano rises. Antara Foto / Maz Yons / via Reuters
  • Indonesian schoolchildren walk together at Sipandak elementary school in Tiga Pancur village in Karo, North Sumatra. Anto Sembiring / AFP
    Indonesian schoolchildren walk together at Sipandak elementary school in Tiga Pancur village in Karo, North Sumatra. Anto Sembiring / AFP
  • School children walk as Mount Sinabung erupts in Karo, North Sumatra, Indonesia. Sarianto / AP Photo
    School children walk as Mount Sinabung erupts in Karo, North Sumatra, Indonesia. Sarianto / AP Photo
  • Mount Sinabung spews volcanic ash as it erupts in Karo, North Sumatra, Indonesia. Sugeng Nuryono / AP Photo
    Mount Sinabung spews volcanic ash as it erupts in Karo, North Sumatra, Indonesia. Sugeng Nuryono / AP Photo
  • Mount Sinabung spews volcanic ash as it erupts in Kutarakyat, North Sumatra, Indonesia. Endro Rusharyanto / AP Photo
    Mount Sinabung spews volcanic ash as it erupts in Kutarakyat, North Sumatra, Indonesia. Endro Rusharyanto / AP Photo
  • Motorists ride on a road covered in volcanic ash from the eruption of Mount Sinabung in Gurukinayan, North Sumatra, Indonesia. Endro Rusharyanto / AP Photo
    Motorists ride on a road covered in volcanic ash from the eruption of Mount Sinabung in Gurukinayan, North Sumatra, Indonesia. Endro Rusharyanto / AP Photo
  • Volcanic ashes from Mount Sinabung as seen from Berastagi, Karo, North Sumatra, Indonesia. Tibta Nangin / EPA
    Volcanic ashes from Mount Sinabung as seen from Berastagi, Karo, North Sumatra, Indonesia. Tibta Nangin / EPA

No-one was injured. Video showed screaming children fleeing a school outside the volcano's exclusion zone as a billowing column of ash rose in the background.

Mount Sinabung is among more than 120 active volcanoes in Indonesia, which is prone to seismic upheaval due to its location on the Pacific "Ring of Fire," an arc of volcanoes and fault lines encircling the Pacific Basin.

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Mount Sinabung erupts again sending ash plume into Indonesian sky