Residents evacuated, schools closed following Mt. Gamalama eruptions

Residents of 10 subdistricts in the Maluku city of Ternate have been evacuated, while schools have been closed, following the eruption of Mount Gamalama on Sunday evening that has covered nearly all parts of the city in ash.

“The Ternate administration has prepared masks for residents,” Ternate Deputy Mayor Arifin Djafar said on Monday in Ternate, as quoted by tempo.co.

He added that residents of the 10 subdistricts in North Ternate district were evacuated because those areas would likely be in the way of lava flows.

“We're conducting this evacuation as an early anticipation measure, given that the status of the mountain could be raised to Awas [Alert level 4]. The evacuation is aimed at protecting people living around the disaster-prone areas.”

Ternate Education Agency head Judhi Taslim, meanwhile, said schools in affected areas would be closed for at least the next seven days.

“We'll keep observing the situation, and may extend the closure of the schools,” Judhi said.

Mount Gamalama began erupting at 11 p.m. on Sunday, since then over 100 small to medium quakes have been recorded around the volcano. The alert status of the mountain is currently at Siaga, which is Level 3 out of four alert levels, with Level 4, Awas, being the most dangerous.