A giant plume of volcanic ash rises from Mount Soputan, Wednesday, Oct. 3, 2018, in the town of Tomohon, Northern Sulawesi, Indonesia. The volcano erupted Wednesday morning on the same central Indonesian island as an earlier earthquake and authorities warned planes about volcanic ash in the air. (AP Photo/Hetty Andih)
Jakarta, Indonesia — A volcano erupted yesterday morning on the same central Indonesian island as an earlier earthquake and authorities warned planes about volcanic ash in the air.
Mount Soputan in North Sulawesi province spewed ash 6,000 meters (19,700 feet) into the sky yesterday morning. No evacuations were immediately ordered.
A government volcanologist said it’s possible the eruption was accelerated by the 7.5 magnitude earthquake in Central Sulawesi on Friday.
“It could be that this earthquake triggered the eruption, but the direct correlation has yet to be seen as there had been an increase in the Mount Soputan activity,” Kasbani, the head of Indonesia’s Volcanology and Geology Disaster Mitigation agency, told online news portal Tempo.
Kasbani, who uses one name, said volcanic activity had been increasing at Soputan since August and began surging Monday.
Nazli Ismail, a geophysicist at University of Syiah Kuala, Banda Aceh on Sumatra island, stressed there was no concrete evidence to show they are linked.
“People talk about the butterfly effect. The concept is that when a butterfly flaps its wings, it can cause a catastrophe,” he said. “So it is possible for the earthquake to trigger the volcano eruption, but it’s not conclusive. This needs to be further investigated.”