An Indonesian volcano erupted on 20 Jan, sending a massive column of ash and smoke 5,000 odd metres into the sky. Local villages were covered by wreckages and ash. Officials distributed face masks to residents to prevent them taking the ash.
Mount Sinabung on Sumatra island, which has been rumbling since 2010 and was seen as a deadly eruption in 2016, erupted a few days ago.
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An Indonesian volcano erupted on 20 Jan, sending a massive column of ash and smoke 5,000 odd metres into the sky. Local villages were covered by wreckages and ash. Officials distributed face masks to residents to prevent them taking the ash.
No injuries or deaths are reported in the eruption since the surrounding area of the volcano was announced as "no-go zone". But hundreds of houses near the scene was coated in ash.
Sinabung once erupted in 2010 and after another period of inactivity it erupted in 2013, it has become highly active then. At least 20 people died in the eruptions in 2014 and 2016.
"This was the biggest eruption for Sinabung this year," said volcanology agency chief Kasbani.
Photo via Twitter
Photo via Twitter
No injuries or deaths are reported in the eruption since the surrounding area of the volcano was announced as "no-go zone". But hundreds of houses near the scene was coated in ash.
The government has distributed masks to the residents and remind them not stay outdoors to avoid respiratory problems.
"In some villages the visibility was barely five metres after the eruption — it was pitch black," local disaster mitigation agency official Nata Nail Perangin-angin said.
Photo via Twitter
Photo via Twitter
Sinabung once erupted in 2010 and after another period of inactivity it erupted in 2013, it has become highly active then. At least 20 people died in the eruptions in 2014 and 2016.
Photo via Twitter
DENPASAR, Indonesia (AP) — Elon Musk arrived in Indonesia’s resort island of Bali on Sunday to launch Starlink satellite internet service in the world’s largest archipelago nation.
The billionaire head of Tesla and SpaceX and owner of social platform X arrived by private jet on the idyllic “island of the gods,” which is renowned for its tropical beaches, terraced rice paddies, mystical temples and colorful spiritual offerings.
Musk is slated to launch the service alongside Indonesian President Joko Widodo in a ceremony later Sunday at a public health clinic in Denpasar, the provincial capital of Bali. Musk will also sign an agreement on enhancing connectivity in the country's health and education sectors, said Indonesia’s Coordinating Minister of Maritime and Investment Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan, who welcomed Musk at the airport.
Pandjaitan, a close ally of Widodo, did not provide more details about the agreement between the Indonesian government and Musk’s SpaceX, the aerospace company that operates Starlink services.
He said launching the service at a health clinic aligns with Starlink’s broader mission of providing affordable access to high-speed internet services, particularly in underserved and remote regions.
Indonesia is a vast archipelago of 17,000 islands sprawled across three time zones with a population of more than 270 million.
“Our remote regions need Starlink to expand high-speed internet services, especially to help with problems in the health, education and maritime sectors,” Pandjaitan told reporters ahead of the ceremony in Denpasar.
Communication and Informatics Minister Budi Arie Setiadi said earlier that local internet providers, which rely on base transceiver stations to transmit signals, are unable to reach outer islands because they have limited coverage. Starlink’s satellites, which remain in low orbit, will help them deliver faster internet speeds with nationwide coverage.
During his first in-person visit to Bali, Musk is also scheduled to participate in the 10th World Water Forum, which seeks to address global water and sanitation challenges.
Musk spoke in 2022 at the B-20 business forum ahead of a summit of the Group of 20 leading economies that took place in Bali. He joined the conference by video link weeks after completing his heavily scrutinized takeover of Twitter.
Musk’s visit comes just weeks after Apple CEO Tim Cook met Widodo on April 17 and said the company would “look at” manufacturing in Indonesia. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella visited on April 30 and said the company would invest $1.7 billion over the next four years in new cloud and artificial intelligence infrastructure in Indonesia.
Indonesia under Widodo has promoted development of the digital technology and information sectors, aiming to achieve the government’s Golden Indonesia 2045 Vision. The country hopes to become one of the world’s top five economies with a GDP of up to $9 trillion, exactly a century after it won independence from Dutch colonizers.
Karmini reported from Jakarta, Indonesia.
FILE - Tesla and SpaceX Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk speaks at the SATELLITE Conference and Exhibition in Washington, Monday, March 9, 2020. Musk arrived in Indonesia’s resort island of Bali on Sunday, May 19, 2024, to launch Starlink satellite internet service in the world’s largest archipelago nation. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File)
