T

he latest eruption of Mount Sinabung in Karo regency, North Sumatra, on Saturday halted activities in the districts of Tiganderket, Payung and Lau Balang.

Pyroclastic flows hit the three districts located southwest of the volcano, completely covering the area with thick layers of volcanic ash early Saturday morning. Thousands of residents were forced to flee their homes.

'€œThe eruption frightened people. Many of us evacuated as far as Munteh district, which was not affected by the eruption,'€ Alfian Ginting of Tiganderket told The Jakarta Post on Saturday.

Ginting said the eruption occurred at 5:33 a.m. on Saturday and was accompanied by powerful thundering sounds.

He said the evacuees remained in Munteh for almost three hours to only return to their respective villages when the eruption stopped.

He added that even though locals were traumatized by the frequent eruptions that had occurred within the last few years, they chose to remain in their home villages.

'€œWe have been living here for generations. We refuse to leave our villages although we realize that eruptions will continue to threaten us,'€ said Ginting, whose house is located some 5 kilometers from the crater of the volcano.

On Sunday, the volcano reportedly erupted again, forcing the local administration to temporarily close the Lau Kawar tourist resort. Several villages were also blanketed by the volcanic ash.

Mt. Sinabung observation post head Armen Putra reminded people '€“ especially those residing within the hazard zone of a 3 to 5 km radius from the crater of the volcano '€“ to exercise caution.

Armen said Mt. Sinabung'€™s volcanic activities remained high and posed danger as shown by the frequent pyroclastic flows and volcanic ash it had been spewing.

'€œThe eruption this morning was relatively big because the volcano continued to spew pyroclastic flows and volcanic ash for three hours,'€ Armen said on Saturday.

He said the pyroclastic flows reached as far as 4 km south of the volcano while the volcanic ash reached up to 3 km into the sky toward the southwest.

Armen added that a total of 11 pyroclastic flows occurred from 5:33 a.m. until 8:00 a.m.

He said the volcanic ash from Mt. Sinabung reached as far as 34 km to the border of North Sumatra and Aceh.

'€œOf the three districts badly covered in volcanic ash, Lau Balang was worst hit,'€ said Armen, adding that the volcano continued to spew volcanic ash but at a much lower intensity.

The first eruption occurred in September two years ago. As of December 2014, as many as 2,433 residents were still in evacuation centers.