An Indonesian volcano erupted spewing a giant ash cloud more than 5km into the sky. The volcano became active in 2010, erupting after nearly 400 years of inactivity.
The eruption of Mount Sinabung on the island of Sumatra comes after more than a year of inactivity. Mount Sinabung, which has erupted over a hundred times between Jan. 4 through the morning of January 5 is spewing out a 4,000-metre high column of ash damaging property and crops and poisoning animals over a wide radius.
Residents and tourists have been warned about possible lava flow and have been told to stay outside a 3km radius from the crater's mouth.
Volcanoes erupt when molten rock called magma rises to the surface. Magma is formed when the earth's mantle melts. If magma is thick, gas bubbles cannot easily escape and pressure builds up as the magma rises. When the pressure is too much an explosive eruption can happen, which can be dangerous and destructive.
Indonesia is home to many active volcanoes, due to its position on the “Ring of Fire”, or the Circum-Pacific Belt, which is an area along the Pacific Ocean characterised by active volcanoes and frequent earthquakes. The Ring of Fire is home to about 75 per cent of the world’s volcanoes and about 90 per cent of its earthquakes.
