Jakarta (ANTARA) - The National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) stated that more than 400 residents of the West Halmahera District, North Maluku, were evacuated on Saturday evening due Mount Ibu's eruption.

Those who were evacuated were residents of seven villages in the district, among others Gam Ici and Tongte Ternate Village, Head of the BNPB Disaster Data, Information, and Communication Center Abdul Muhari said on Sunday.

"Since last night, residents were evacuated using the military and police's tactical vehicles and open trucks," Muhari said, who was in West Sumatra supervising the mitigation of Mount's Marapi's cold lava flood.

Muhari said, on Sunday, rescuers were still gathering data and identities of residents who live in a radius of seven kilometers from Mount Ibu's crater following the exclusion zone recommended by the Center for Volcanology and Geological Disaster Mitigation (PVMBG)

The Mount Ibu Observation Post reported that Mount Ibu erupted for the second time on Saturday at 8:34 p.m. local time, spewing ash one kilometer into the sky that drifted to the northeast and east.

Due to the second eruption, the PVMBG increased the status of Mount Ibu to alert level IV.

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Translator: M Prasetyo, Kenzu
Editor: Aditya Eko Sigit Wicaksono
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