Authorities in Indonesia on Thursday raised the alert level of an erupting volcano, days after it had triggered a tsunami that killed hundreds of people.
The alert level for Mount Anak Krakatau was raised to the second highest level, “standby,” and the exclusion zone around it was also expanded to a five-kilometre radius, Indonesia’s disaster mitigation agency (BNPB) said.
The volcano island, located in the Sunda Strait between Java and Sumatra, spewed clouds of ash on Wednesday that were blown over to the cities of Serang and Cilegon in Banten province, spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said.
“However, the volcanic ash is harmless,” Nugroho said. “It will fertilize the soil, however residents have been advised to wear masks and protective glasses when outdoors.”
An eruption on Saturday resulted in the collapse of the volcano’s southwestern flank, which sent huge amounts of earth down into the sea and resulted in an undersea landslide that triggered a tsunami.
The tsunami hit coastal areas of the provinces of Lampung and Banten which surround the strait and killed at least 430 people and displaced thousands.