The Sinabung volcano in Indonesia erupted twice yesterday, sending avalanches of smoke as high as 3,000 metres to the east.

Authorities were closely monitoring Mount Sinabung on Sumatra, one of Indonesia’s main islands, after putting it on the highest alert level in early June 2010.

Agus Salihin, a volcanologist at the Sinabung observation post, said the eruption was one of the biggest since early last year.

Sinabung volcano has been erupting continually since 2010 after being dormant for 400 years.

The Indonesian government said an area as far as 3.5 kilometres away had been declared a high-risk danger zone.

The government has set up an evacuation plan for civilians in the area and evacuated everyone in the high-risk danger zone.

Mount Sinabung is among about 130 active volcanoes in Indonesia, which is prone to seismic upheaval due to its location on the Pacific “Ring of Fire” – an arc of volcanoes and fault lines encircling the Pacific Basin.

The 2,460-metre Mount Sinabung has sporadically spewed hot ash. More than 10,300 villagers whose homes are in the danger have been evacuated to safer areas since 2010.

Source: Associated Press