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Eruption, temblors hit Sumatra
http://www.sina.com.cn 2005/04/13 15:57  Shanghai Daily

  A volcano on Indonesia's Sumatra island erupted yesterday sending hot ash high into the air and forcing the evacuation of hundreds of villagers.

  The eruption was accompanied by a string of moderate earthquakes that rattled towns in Sumatra, which is still recovering from a massive December 26 quake and tsunami that killed nearly 130,000 people on its northern end.

  Scientists have warned of increased seismic activity in Indonesia following the magnitude 9 quake in December as the plates that make up the earth's crust adjust.

  Officials said hot ash and thick smoke spewed out of Mount Talang, which lies near the coast city of Padang, 938 kilometers northwest of Jakarta, near the epicenter of four quakes yesterday.

  An official in the nearby town of Solok said hundreds of villagers living on the slopes of the 2,690 meter volcano had been evacuated.

  "The quakes and aftershocks can accelerate volcanic activity ... The quakes don't cause the eruption, but they add energy to it," Budi Waluyo, chief officer at the meteorology and geophysics office in Jakarta, said.

  The volcanic activity and quakes sparked panic among residents of Padang, a city of nearly 1 million people, which was hit on Sunday by a quake measuring 6.8 on the Richter scale.

  Officials said of the quakes recorded yesterday the biggest measured 5.8 on the Richter scale, with an epicenter around 150km southwest of Padang.

  "The four quakes we recorded overnight more or less had their epicenters in the same area in the ocean," Rasidi, another official at the geophysics and meteorology office in Jakarta.

  In jakarta, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono yesterday called on Indonesians not to be superstitious about the series of earthquakes hitting the country, saying such disasters could be explained scientifically.

  Yudhoyono said he received many text messages on his phone requesting him to slaughter at least 1,000 goats as an offering to prevent more natural disasters.

  "If I met this extraordinary and unique request, then I would have no time to visit disaster-hit areas across the country or control emergency requests," Yudhoyono said.

  (Reuters/AP)


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