Mount Sinabung Refugees Return Home

Kabanjahe, North Sumatra, Sept 24 (Antara) - Thousands of villagers are returning home near North Sumatra`s Mount Sinabung, which has been erupting for more than a week. Spokesperson for Mount Sinabung Disaster Mitigation Agency Jhonson Tarigan said on Tuesday that out of 14,951 refugees, thousands have returned home, leaving 2,080 villagers at camps in Kabanjahe. "The local administration and respective institution have allowed some refugees to return home," Tarigan added. However, only villagers who live beyond the four-kilometre radius of Mount Sinabung are allowed to return home. They include residents of Berastepu Village of Simpang Empat sub-district, Guru Kinayan Village, and Payung Village. The administration has set the exclusion zone to three kilometres, thus not allowing residents of Simacem, Bekerah, and Singgarang-garang villages to return home. "It`s still dangerous for villagers to carry out activities within the three-kilometre radius," said Tarigan. The remaining refugees are housed in 12 camps in Kabanjahe, namely Jambur Sempakata, GBKP Kota, Jambur Teras Berastagi, The City`s Great Mosque, Sentrum, and Kabanjahe Catholic Church. Mount Sinabung first erupted on Sunday (Sept 17) at around 2:51 a.m. The highest mountain in North Sumatra (2,600 metres high) erupted again two days later on Tuesday at 12:13 p.m., spewing volcanic ash five kilometres into the air. Previously, Mount Sinabung had erupted twice on September 3, 2010, with the first eruption at 4:45 a.m. and the second at 6 p.m.