JAKARTA, March 19 (Xinhua) -- Mount Lewotobi Laki-laki erupted on Thursday at 2:36 p.m. local time, sending a thick column of gray ash up to 1,000 meters above its 1,703-meter peak, according to the Center for Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation (PVMBG).
"The eruption was recorded on a seismograph with a maximum amplitude of 14.8 mm and a duration of 130 seconds," said Herman Yosef Mboro, an official at the Lewotobi Laki-laki Volcano Observation Post in East Nusa Tenggara Province, in a press release.
PVMBG urged residents to avoid activities within a 4-kilometer radius of the crater and to wear masks to protect their respiratory systems from volcanic ash.
Residents were also advised to remain alert to the risk of rain-induced lava floods in rivers originating from the volcano during periods of heavy rainfall. ■
