We refuse to return to our villages unless we do that together."Langkat, North Sumatra (ANTARA News) - As many as 732 evacuees from Mount Sinabungs eruption in Karo district, North Sumatra, refused to leave the disaster command post at Telagah village in Langkat district on Wednesday.
"We refuse to return to our villages unless we do that together," coordinator of evacuees Indra stated.
The evacuees refused to go back to the disaster command post in Karo district on the grounds that it is far less comfortable than the command post in Langkat district.
"We refuse to return home because we know that we will be removed to the evacuee command post in Tanah Karo district and will not be sent back to our villages," he noted.
The plan to remove the evacuees to the command post in Tanah Karo district is aimed at facilitating the coordination of evacuees.
Evacuee Andreas pointed out that the command post in Tanah Karo district, which has minimum clean water facility and inadequate public bathing, washing and toilet facilities, is far worse than the command post in Langkat district.
The Mount Sinabung eruptions have led to thousands of families to flee their homes. As of March 1, 15,873 people or 5,002 families are still taking shelter in Karo district.
The Volcanology and Geological Disaster Mitigation Center (PVMBG) raised the status of Mount Sinabung to the highest alert level as of November 24 last year, meaning that the volcano has the potential to send out materials measuring 3 to 4 cm to up to 4 km from its crater and thus, people living within a 5km radius of the crater must be evacuated.
At least 16 people were killed when the volcano spewed clouds of hot and toxic ash that dispersed across Sukameriah village located around three km from the volcanos peak on Feb 1.
(Reporting by Imam Fauzi/INE/KR-BSR/H-YH)
Editor: Priyambodo RH
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