Thousands of residents living in villages within a dangerous zone of 7 kilometers from Mount Sinabungâs crater on Wednesday were evacuated to temporary shelters in Kabanjahe, the capital of Karo regency, North Sumatra
housands of residents living in villages within a dangerous zone of 7 kilometers from Mount Sinabung's crater on Wednesday were evacuated to temporary shelters in Kabanjahe, the capital of Karo regency, North Sumatra.
They were evacuated after the Volcanology and Geological Disaster Mitigation Center (PVMBG) increased Mt Sinabung's alert level from Alert Level 3, which is called 'Siaga', to 'Awas' (danger or the highest level).
The commander of Sinabung Disaster Mitigation Taskforce, Lt.Col.Asep Sukarna, who is also the 0205 Karo military district command (Kodim) chief, said the evacuation process was conducted starting from 3 p.m. local time on Wednesday.
He said as many as 600 personnel, comprising police and military officers and humanitarian volunteers from the Karo administration, were deployed to evacuate residents from their homes to safer places.
'We evacuated our residents to temporary shelters at Kabanjahe Parish Catholic Church,' Asep told The Jakarta Post on Wednesday afternoon.
He said the residents were evacuated using 12 trucks deployed to a number of resident settlement areas. (ebf)(+++)
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