Sulawesi's Mount Soputan Erupts

JAKARTA, Oct 3 (Bernama) -- The Sulawesi Island continually threatened by natural disasters when Mount Soputan, located in the Minahasa district of the North Sulawesi province, erupted Wednesday morning. The volcano started erupting at 8.47am (local time), with ash observed as high as 4,000 metres, however, it was reported that at this stage, it would not disrupt the activity of the local community or flights. National disaster management agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said Indonesian authorities had ordered people out of a four km radius of the mountain. The 1,784m mountain, located approximately 56km from Manado City, last erupted in 2015. Friday’s earthquake measured 7.4 on the Richter scale and tsunami disaster in central Sulawesi has killed more than 1000 people while tens of thousands of properties were destroyed. -- BERNAMA