Indonesians flee as volcano hits red alert

From correspondents in Jakarta 

From:AAP 

July 11, 2011 4:04PM

INDONESIA will evacuate hundreds of people living near Mount Lokon on Sulawesi island after raising the volcano's alert status to the highest level.

"We raised the volcano's status to the highest red alert level last night," government volcanologist Kristianto told AFP.

"There was a significant rise in volcanic activity since July 9. The volcano spewed ash 500m into the air over the weekend

"Today we will be evacuating people living within a 3.5km radius around the volcano as a precautionary measure, in case of a bigger eruption which may be accompanied by deadly searing gas."

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Around 28,000 people live within the evacuation zone but only "hundreds" will be moved today, those in the path of the ash, as officials continue to monitor volcanic activity, disaster management agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said. Read the rest on: 

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