A Volcano Just Erupted In Tsunami-Rattled Indonesia 

A Volcano Just Erupted In Tsunami-Rattled Indonesia 

The Indonesian island of Sulawesi has become a natural disaster zone. After a tsunami battered the island late last week, leaving at least 1350 dead, a volcano has now erupted.

Earlier this week, scientists forecast that Soputan, an active stratovolcano on the northeastern tip of the island, was showing signs of activity. On Wednesday, it sent an ash cloud towering over 6000m above its summit. By night, lava was trickling down Soputan’s flanks.

The volcano continues to be on a Level 3 alert, which is a “watch and take precautions” kind of alert, but not an “evacuations are imminent” one.

Soputan has erupted a dozen times since 2000, so this isn’t wholly a surprise. But it coming right after an earthquake that triggered a tsunami has people wondering if the geological phenomena are intertwined. The short answer: We don’t know, but it seems unlikely.

“It could be that this earthquake triggered the eruption, but the direct correlation has yet to be seen,” Kasbani, the head of Indonesia’s Vulcanology and Geology Disaster Mitigation agency who goes by only one name, said according to NBC News.

Denison University volcanologist Erik Klemetti threw even more cold water on the speculation.

“Soputan had already been restless for months before the earthquake and the volcano is hundreds of kilometres away from the epicentre of the earthquake,” he said in an email to us. “So, I invoke correlation =/= causation on this front. Indonesia is just that geologically active.”

Indeed, Indonesia is one of the most volcanically active nations in the world. The islands that make up the nation are home to dozens of active volcanoes owing to its proximity the edge of tectonic plates. That can allow magma to seep up from deep in the Earth to the surface more readily.

View this post on Instagram

LEVEL GUNUNG SOPUTAN NAIK DARI WASPADA MENJADI SIAGA . Sobat, @pvmbg_kesdm meningkatkan Status Gunung Soputan, Provinsi Sulawesi Utara dari Level II (Waspada) menjadi Level III (Siaga) . Status tersebut ditingkatkan berdasar pengamatan aktivitas kegempaan Gunung Soputan sejak 1 Agustus hingga 2 Oktober 2018 . Bagi masyarakat sekitar diharap agar tidak beraktivitas di seluruh area di dalam radius 4 Km dari puncak Gunung Soputan dan di dalam area perluasan sektoral ke arah Barat-Baratdaya sejauh 6,5 Km . Selain itu, dihimbau agar masyarakat tidak terpancing isu-isu tidak benar mengenai letusan Gunung Soputan . Pantau terus ya Sobat informasi terupdate di kanal sosial media @kesdm . . @pvmbg_kesdm @kabargeologi #kabarGeologi #FaktaData

A post shared by #EnergiBerkeadilan (@kesdm) on

This isn’t the first eruption we’ve seen in Indonesia recently. In February, Mount Sinabung in Sumatra popped off, sending an extremely ominous-looking ash cloud towering over the countryside. Last November, Mount Agung on Bali did its thing, too.

Of course, having regular eruptions is one thing. Having one follow a tsunami that already has people on edge is quite another.


The Cheapest NBN 50 Plans

It’s the most popular NBN speed in Australia for a reason. Here are the cheapest plans available.

At Gizmodo, we independently select and write about stuff we love and think you'll like too. We have affiliate and advertising partnerships, which means we may collect a share of sales or other compensation from the links on this page. BTW – prices are accurate and items in stock at the time of posting.