Manado, Ekuatorial – Soputan Mountain erupted and spewed lava within 2,000 meters, said an official on Monday (2/2), in Southeast Minahasa and South Minahasa districts of North Sulawesi.
Asep, one of the monitoring staff at the Soputan Mountain Monitoring Post in Silian Tiga village, said that the eruption also produced blackish brown thick smokes up to 3,500 meters high. “Both lava and smoke are heading to north west,” he said adding the eruption occurred around 01.22 am local time.
Ryan Sandag, a villager of Silian village of Touluaan sub-district, Southeast Minahasa, said molten lava can be seen clearly sliding down from Soputan’s peak attracting local villagers to watch the activity.
Asep warned local villagers that Soputan’s status was still Level 3 meaning that there should not be any activities within 6.5 kilometers from its peak. “If people got too close within those range, they would be exposed to the lava, especially current condition showed that volcanic activity is increasing,” he said
Last night’s eruption, he said, was the fifth explosion since the first occurred on January 6. “It is a bit unusual [volcanic activity] from Soputan Mountain for the past five years,” he said adding that the mountain usually erupted only once within one or two years.
Southeast Minahasa district head, James Sumendap, instructed villagers to increase their awareness though there were still significant impacts resulted from the Mountain’s activities. “The last eruption did not affect villagers but we are still on guard and keep informing people to stay alert,” said Sumendap. Yoseph Ikanubun