Tuesday 20 February 2018

Sumatra's Mt. Sinabung erupts

Mount Sinaborg Volcano ERUPTS in Indonesia as Terrified Children Flee for their lives

19 February, 2018

The Mount Sinabung volcano in Karo Regency, North Sumatra, Indonesia, erupted in terrifying fashion Monday morning around 7:00 AM eastern US time.  Within seconds, a plume of fire, gas and ash shot well over 5 kilometers into the air.

More ominously, horrifying pyroclastic flows were sent hurling down the volcano toward local villages and the school shown in the photo above.
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A pyroclastic flow  is a fast-moving current of hot gas and volcanic matter  that moves away from a volcano reaching speeds of up to 700 km/h (430 mph).The gases can reach temperatures of about 1,000 °C (1,830 °F).

If that ash comes into contact with a human, the person disintegrates in seconds.

The explosion was so forceful and frightening, it sent the school children out of the building and into the street crying in fear as they watched the deadly gray clouds come closer and closer to them.


Sumatra is a large island in western Indonesia that is part of the Sunda Islands. It is the largest island that is located entirely in Indonesia (after Borneo and New Guinea, which are shared between Indonesia and other countries) and the sixth-largest island in the world at 473,481 Sq. km (not including adjacent islands such as the Riau Islands and Bangka Belitung Islands). Map below.



 The island sits among the Pacific "Ring of Fire" the most seismically active region of planet Earth.




The volcano gave no warning before this morning's spectacular eruption which shot billowing columns of ash more than 16,400 feet into the atmosphere and hot clouds down its slopes on Monday. There were no fatalities or injuries from the morning eruption, the National Disaster Mitigation Agency said.

The volcano, one of three currently erupting in Indonesia, was dormant for four centuries before exploding in 2010, killing two people. Another eruption in 2014 killed 16 people, while seven died in a 2016 eruption.

Disaster agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said hot ash clouds traveled as far as 16,000 feet southward.

The regional volcanic ash advisory center in Darwin, Australia, issued a "red notice" to airlines.

Some 30,000 people have been forced to leave homes around the mountain in the past few years.





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