21 Villages Evacuated Due to MT Sinabung's Eruption

Medan, N Sumatra (Antara) - Twenty-one villages within a 5 km radius of Mount Sinabung's crater in North Sumatra have been evacuated since the alert status of the volcano was raised to the highest level on Sunday. Tens of thousands of people living in the villages had been evacuated to safer areas according to a recommendation from the Volcanology and Geological Disaster Mitigation Center (PVMBG), said Jhonson Tarigan, chairman of the media center of the Mount Sinabung disaster mitigation command post on Saturday. The top alert status meant that the volcano had the potential to send out ash and rock measuring 3-4 cm to up to 4 km from the crater, he said. "The Karo district administration, along with other agencies, including the military, police, sub-district heads, village heads and volunteers, are working hard to help evacuate the residents to the command post in Kabanjahe," he said. The affected villages include Sukameriah, Guru Kinayan, Selandi Lama, Kutarakyat, and Sigaranggarang in Payung sub-district, Berastepu, Sibintun, Gamber, Kuta Tengah, Kuta Mbelin, Kebayaken, Kuta Tonggal, and Sukanalu in Simpang Empat sub-district. The other villages are Bekerah, and Simacem in Naman Teran sub-district, and Tiganderket, Mardinding, Temburun and Kuta Mbaru in Tiganderket sub-district. In total, the 21 villages have a population of 14,281, he said. On Monday (Nov 25), the volcano erupted six times. (*)