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03rd Oct 2018

Indonesia volcano erupts on the same island as devastating earthquake

Kyle Picknell

Mount Soputan spewed ash almost 6,000 metres into the sky

A volcano has erupted on the same island as the city of Palu in Indonesia, less than a week after an earthquake killed over 1300 people.

Mount Soputan, in the North Sulawesi province, erupted at 8:47am local time and spewed ash 4,000m above the volcano’s peak, which meant a height of around 5,8000m above sea level.

According to the BNPB, the current alert for the area around Mount Soputan is at level three on the four-level volcano warning scale. Reports indicate that citizens have been warned not to go travel within 4km of the volcano and have masks ready in the event of further ashfall.

A government volcanologist suspects the eruption was triggered by the 7.5 magnitude earthquake which occurred on Friday 28 September.

Along with the resultant tsunami and aftershocks, this led to over 1300 deaths. Palu, the capital of Central Sulawesi, was the worst-affected area.