CRISISBOOM

earthquake-report

Volcanic smoke billows from Mount Soputan as seen in this photo taken from the town of Amurang, North Sulawesi, Indonesia, Monday, Oct. 6, 2008. (AP Photo)VAAC Ash advisory for the area : The ash cloud from the initial explosion/eruption is drifting further to the south-west. The image confirms the subsiding activity of the volcano. Click on the picture to go straight to the VAAC page in Darwin, Australia. The report below dates from 14:22 UTC on July 3, 2011.
The sector most affected for the coming hours will be Kalimantan (Borneo), Indonesia.
VAAC comments on this latest report : HIGH LEVEL ERUPTION HAS CEASED AND IS DISSIPATING. LOW LEVEL VA NOT IDENTIFIABLE ON SAT IMAGERY DUE TO METEOROLOGICAL CLOUD BUT EXPECTED TO STILL BE IN AREA.

Click on the picture for the link to the detailed page at Darwin, Australia

UPDATE : Around midnight local time (18 hours after the first eruption), the volcano’s activity subsided drastically.  The activity is ongoing with some limited isolated bursts of ash. People living in the greater volcano area have been told not to enter the 8 km radius around the volcano.
The alert level was not raised due to the eruption. The authorities do not expect any further deterioration of the eruption.

Soputan volcano, Sulawesi Indonesia – image courtesy Smithsonian Institution

An explosion started the eruption of the Soputan volcano, located in Northern Sulawesi, early this morning (local time).

The settlements around the volcano have not been evacuated as the eruption has been centered around the crater with limited impact the the surrounding landscape.
The Indonesian authorities are monitoring the eruption continuously and will order an evacuation if the volcano would change his erupting pattern.

Some regional airports have been closed from the time of the eruption until the afternoon because of ash clouds. The maximum height of the ash cloud was approx. 5 km.

The last eruption of the Soputan volcano was on June 6, 2008.

Description Soputan volcano)
The small Soputan stratovolcano on the southern rim of the Quaternary Tondano caldera on the northern arm of Sulawesi Island is one of Sulawesi’s most active volcanoes. The youthful, largely unvegetated volcano rises to 1784 m and is located SW of Sempu volcano. It was constructed at the southern end of a SSW-NNE trending line of vents. During historical time the locus of eruptions has included both the summit crater and Aeseput, a prominent NE-flank vent that formed in 1906 and was the source of intermittent major lava flows until 1924. (text and image : Smitsonian Institution)

Soputan eruption data : 1785, 1819, 1833, 1845, 1890, 1901, 1906, 1907, 1908-09, 1910, 1911-12, 1913, 1915, 1917, 1923-24, 1947, 1953, 1966-67 , 1968, 1970, 1971, 1973, 1982, 1984, 1985, 1989, 1991-96, 2000-03, 2004, 2005, 2007, and 2008.

Soputan volcano, Indonesia