Over the weekend, Mount Sinabung started to flare up. Hot ash and gas started to come down from its slopes. Owing to this, thousands of people living in the vicinity of the volcano were evacuated from their homes.

As many as 3,000 villagers were ordered to evaluate their homes. It is expected that thousands more need to evacuate their homes in the coming days. Subur Tambun, head of the local disaster mitigation agency, said that people were moved owing to the increased activities of the volcano in the past days.

Those who have been asked to evacuate include villagers living between 3 and 5 kilometers from the crater on its eastern and southeastern flanks. A small number of people who had returned to villages within 3 kilometers are also evacuating again.

Authorities concerned noticed a significant rise in activity at Sinabung and on June 2 they raised the alert level. For more than four centuries, the volcano remained inactive. It has come back to life in 2010 and is remaining active since then. In February 2014, 14 people died due to the eruption.

Government volcanologist Gede Suantika informed that at least 28 ash avalanches took place on Monday at the Mount Sinabung. Gede said that there are indications that the crater’s lava dome continues to grow in size.

Authorities have been closely monitoring Sinabung. There are chances that evacuation of five to six villages takes place in the coming days.