T

he Sinabung Emergency Response Task Force is making concerted efforts to speed up the housing project for Mount Sinabung eruption evacuees. Fifty homes in the Siosar area in Karo regency, North Sumatra, are nearing completion.

National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) spokesperson Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said that the homes had been linked to the power grid.

The 9-kilometer access road to the site is almost complete, as are lawns for homes.

'€œHopefully the relocation of evacuees will go as scheduled so residents can live in calm,'€ said Sutopo in Medan on Friday, as quoted by Antara news agency.

The 50 homes are the first installment in the relocation area, which is expected to cover 458.88 hectares when complete: 447.8 hectares has been allocated to housing and farmland and 11.02 hectares to roads.

Sutopo also noted that food supplies and equipment for the evacuees were still adequate.

'€œThe distribution of evacuees'€™ basic needs is adequate, including Christmas and New Year presents,'€ said Sutopo.

So far, the number of evacuees has reached 795 families, or 2,443 people, across seven shelters. Sutopo said the evacuees were no longer panicking about repeat eruptions. From Dec. 24, the agency has recorded 75 lava and two pyroclastic flows at 2,000 meters to the south and 2,000 meters to the southeast of the volcano.

The volcano discharged molten lava to the south as far as 1,500 meters from its crater during the eruption.

North Sumatra Governor Gatot Pujo Nugroho said the Mt. Sinabung evacuees had resided within a 3 km radius of the mountain, with 381 families recorded as living in the red zone.

Mt. Sinabung'€™s status has been set at the third-highest alert level as of this week. The volcano first erupted in September last year, displacing more than 33,000 residents

In another development, Ternate city Deputy Mayor Arifin Djafar has said that Sultan Babullah Airport would be closed until Sunday as Mount Gamalama continued to show signs of volcanic activity.

'€œGamalama is still emitting volcanic ash, thus we are not able to open our airport,'€ Arifin said Friday, as quoted by Antara news agency, after a meeting with a number of officials in Ternate, North Maluku.

Mt. Gamalama erupted Thursday evening last week. Arifin said it was considered too dangerous to allow flights into or out of the airport, which is located at the foot of the 1,700-meter volcano.

To anticipate the worst-case scenario, he said the city administration had already prepared an emergency evacuation plan.

He also warned residents in Ternate to remain vigilant of the sea around North Maluku, as the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) had forecast waves of up to 2.5 meters.

Mt. Gamalama last erupted in September 2012, when it spewed volcanic ash and blanketed the eastern and southern parts of Ternate.

A flow of lava from Mt. Gamalama also hit some areas in the city earlier in the year, claiming the lives of three residents.