(MENAFN- The Journal Of Turkish Weekly) Villagers in the vicinity of Mount Sinabung volcano continued to be evacuated Tuesday, with the local administration saying that a combined 10,714 people had now been moved to nearby shelters.
Karo's regent Terkelin Brahmana told Anadolu Agency that 7,500 people were evacuated in army vehicles Tuesday alone.
The volcano erupted for the first time this month on June 12, less than 14-days after its warning status was raised to the highest level.
The eruption triggered pyroclastic flows - fast-moving current of hot gas and rock - that reached as far as 3 kilometers south of the mountain and spewed volcanic ash around 500 meters into the sky.
The Geological Agency is concerned about a massing of lava at the peak of Sinabung's crater. With a volume of 3 million cubic meters, it could flow around 6 kilometers down the volcano's slopes.
One evacuee - Inawati - told TV One on Tuesday that she had had to flee as it was impossible to harvest the crops in her fields as everything was covered with volcanic ash.
"There is nothing remaining," she said. "We have submitted to fate. [this time] it was so long we had to flee."
She said she was praying that the government would provide education for her children in the shelters.
President Joko Widodo has canceled a visit to Rote Island to visit the scene, according to Karo Regent Terkelin Brahmana.
Widodo had been due to visit a group of migrants on Rote who claim that Australia an official bribed people smugglers to ditch their original route to New Zealand and return to Indonesia with their human cargo.
Since erupting in Sept. 2013, Mt. Sinabung has never entirely stopped flowing.
The eruptions have killed at least 17 people and destroyed thousands of hectares of farmland.
National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho told Anadolu Agency on Tuesday that the impact of losses since the 2013 eruption is estimated to be more than Rp 1.49 trillion ($104 million).
"No one knows when it will end," he added.
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