Monday saw the nearest international airport reopen after being closed for days, as Indonesian authorities reduce the warning level of a distant volcano that has erupted more than six times in the past week.
Authorities had cautioned that the danger posed by the Mount Ruang stratovolcano in Indonesia’s most remote area was far from gone, since it had forced thousands of people to flee last week when it erupted in a magnificent display of lightning, ash columns, and lava.
However, the crater’s volcanic activity has since subsided, and on Monday the nation’s volcanology department dropped the alert level to the second-highest of four levels.
“Based on the results of visual and instrumental monitoring which show a decrease in volcanic activity on Mt. Ruang, the status level… has been lowered from Level IV to Level III,” volcanology agency head Hendra Gunawan said in a statement.
An exclusion zone was reduced by the agency from six to four kilometers (3.5 to 2.5 miles).
More over 100 kilometers (62 miles) from the crater, in the province seat of Manado, Sam Ratulangi International Airport reopened on Monday afternoon, according to officials.
It happened during several days of airport closures due to volcanic ash, where certain airlines operate flights to China, South Korea, and Singapore.
Since the eruptions started, more than 6,000 residents of the nearby Tagulandang island, which is home to over 20,000 people, have been evacuated outside the exclusion zone; nevertheless, no fatalities or injuries have been reported.
Indonesia is a huge archipelago nation that is situated on the Pacific “Ring of Fire,” which causes regular earthquake and volcanic activity.
