Indonesia's Mt. Sinabung erupted for the third time in three months, forcing hundreds to evacuate.
The volcano shot a column of smoke 4.3-miles into the air, causing everyone living within about a mile to evacuate, Reuters reported.
The military had evacuated 1,293 people from four villages as of about 5:00 a.m., more evacuations are expected.
Yesterday the National Disaster Mitigation Agency BNPB changed the volcano's status from waspada (caution) to siaga (alert), the Jarkata Post reported.
"Based on volcano-monitoring data, it was found that increased seismic activities had occurred in Mt Sinabung while it continued to spew ash rising kilometers into the air," Sutopo said in a statement on Sunday.
Local residents reported hearing a "thundering sound" for about 10 minutes before the volcano erupted.
"The evacuation aims to protect the local residents from the effects caused by the increased volcanic activities of Mt.Sinabung," Sutopo said.
On Oct. 24 Mt. Sinabung shot black ash about two miles into the air, this even took place only weeks after many people, who had been forced to evacuate by a past eruption, had returned home, the Associated Press reported.
The last eruption covered nearby farms, trees, and villages in gray ash, prompting the evacuation of 3,300 people.
A month before that Sinabung belched burning hot ash into the air which caused fires on its slopes; the volcano had been lying dormant for three years.
Mount Sinabung has about 130 volcano neigbors, in fourth most populated country in the world. It is located on what is called the "Pacific Ring of Fire", which is known for frequent volcanic activity.
Sinabung is a stratovolcano, "the most picturesque and the most deadly of the volcano types." No lava was present in the past few eruptions, but it is possible with this type of volcano.
No causalities have been reported in the eruptions over the past several months.
