REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, MEDAN -- - As many as 2,443 people who fled their home following the eruption of Mount Sinabung in Karo district, North Sumatra province, will return home soon.
"The evacuees are residents of Sigarang-garang and Sukanalu villages in Namanteran sub-district," Head of the Karo District Disaster Mitigation Board (BPBD) Subur Tambun said on Sunday, February 22.
He said the evacuees would return home after they had been sheltered at seven evacuee sites in Berastagi and Kabanjahe areas for nearly one year. The seven evacuee sites include GBKP building and KWK building in Berastagi, GBKP building, campus 2 and campus 3 of Karo University and multipurpose building in Kabanjahe.
He said the evacuees who would return home lived outside the red zone or 5-km radius of the volcano. With the 2,460-meter volcano showing decreased activity, the authorities had lowered the alert status of the volcano to three level, meaning that the activity of the highest volcano in North Sumatra is not dangerous to evacuees.
"The decision to send home the evacuees is the result of a meeting of the National Disaster Mitigation Board (BNPB), the Karo district government, and the Mount Sinabung emergency response task force command (Dansatgas)," he said.
Mount Sinabung quietened in September 2010, but its rumbling intensified three years later. The volcano showed signs of increased activity again in November 2013, prompting the authorities to raise the alert status one level. People living within a 5-km radius of the volcano were re-evacuated.
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