Jakarta (AsiaNews/Agencies) - A volcano has awakened disaster-blighted Sumatra, driving about 25,000 villagers from their homes on the western Indonesian island and spreading new panic after the recent tsunami and earthquakes.
Mount Talang, 80km southeast of the coastal city of Padang, began pumping out volcanic ash shortly before dawn, prompting scientists to urge people to leave the area.
Volcanologist Gede Suwantika described Talang's activity as serious, saying there was a risk of further eruption which could release molten magma and clouds of super-heated gas that burn everything in their path.
"I worry that this activity will be followed by a larger eruption that is magmatic in nature," he said. Four villages on the slopes of the 2,599-metre volcano were evacuated. Tens of thousands of scared residents sought refuge several kilometres from the peak.
The eruption was accompanied by a string of moderate earthquakes that rattled towns in Sumatra, which is still recovering from December's quake and tsunami that killed nearly 130,000 people on its northern end.
According to Fauzan, a geophysicist with the meteorology and geophysics agency, Talang's eruption is directly linked to the recent seismic activity off Sumatra's shores.
He said the December quake had activated Leuser Mountain, a volcano in Aceh province along the same range of peaks as Talang, while the recent Nias quake had sparked activity in Lake Toba, an ancient crater and popular tourist resort in northern Sumatra.
The volcanic activity and quakes sparked panic among residents of Padang, a city of nearly 1 million people, which was hit last Sunday by a 6.8-magnitude quake.
