WHILE the South Pacific has held its breath over the fate of Bali’s roaring Mount Agung, another volcano in the vicinity has been letting off its own steam.

A lot of it — so much it blacked out the entire city at only 9.30am.

Mount Sinabung, on Indonesia’s Sumatra Island, exploded in scenes reminiscent of a disaster movie on Monday, sending rapid moving and scorching hot pyroclastic flows and searing gases down its slopes and an ash plume more than five kilometres into the air, forcing terrified residents and tourists to flee the area. And fast.

Gorgeous photo about the collapsing eruption column and the resulted pyroclastic flow of #Sinabung by Mim Medan#VolcanoCup #InternationalDayOfVolcanoes pic.twitter.com/jgvEcgveIG — Szabolcs Harangi (@szharangi) February 19, 2018

Avalanches of pyroclastic flows — a fast moving mix of gas and volcanic material — raced down the volcano at temperatures of 600-800 degrees Celsius.

Meanwhile, multiple earthquakes shook towns and small rocks rained upon surrounding villages.

“In five districts it became dark with a visibility of about five metres,” Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, spokesman for the National Disaster Mitigation Agency, said in a statement.

Locals on the island described the volcano as “raging” as they took to social media to show the world its fury in full flight. Children can be seen fleeing from schools nearby and screaming for their parents in fright.

The #Sinabung eruption with ash plume & hot pyroclastic flows seen on the @vulkanologi_mbg webcam today. The volcano went from calm to very much the opposite in an instant. The hazard zone is in place for this reason. You won't outrun these. pic.twitter.com/KiZwKIC7wq — Dr Janine Krippner (@janinekrippner) February 20, 2018

The powerful eruption was the strongest eruption in five years, according to the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction.

Streets were left covered in thick ash and debris is making visibility difficult for rescue operation teams.

The Asia Pacific Office of the International Federation of Red Cross say despite the danger, “many people are still not evacuating”.

Authorities have compared the sound to a “rumble” on the ground.

Dahsyatnya letusan Gunung Sinabung. Tinggi kolom hingga 5 km disertai luncuran awan panas hingga 4,9 km. Suara bergemuruh. Baru kali ini letusan disertai suara gemuruh sejak 2014-2018. Tidak ada korban jiwa. Semua penduduk di zona merah sudah lama diungsikan. #volcano #Sinabung pic.twitter.com/P2RRfMcm08 — Sutopo Purwo Nugroho (@Sutopo_PN) February 19, 2018

While Mount Agung slowly began to rumble back to life in August, 2017, Mount Sinabung has been erupting intermittently since 2010, forcing at least 30,000 people to evacuate and destroying property.

While it has already caused mass death and destruction, no one quite knows when Mount Sinabung’s deadly tirade will end — and volcanic areas of Indonesia are now covered in large swathes of no-go volcanic zones. Volcanoes are also notoriously bad-tempered and experts are often unable to accurately predict eruption time frames ahead of time.

I keep looking at these #Sinabung eruption photos thinking "thank goodness this area was evacuated. Thank goodness the volcanologists & authorities are there." Photos by Endro Lewa. https://t.co/mcqMNclXfx pic.twitter.com/re91IHMYH2 — Dr Janine Krippner (@janinekrippner) February 19, 2018

Mount Sinabung is one of three active volcanoes in Indonesia and was dormant for four centuries before it woke up and exploded back to life in 2010, when it killed two people.

It erupted again in 2014, this time killing 16. It claimed another seven fatalities in 2016.

The volcano has been on top alert since July 2015 when it spewed hot ash for four kilometres but it has been particularly active in recent months.

The area surrounding it is now a no-man’s land.

Indonesia is the world’s most active volcanic region with 127 active volcanoes. The Southeast Asian archipelago lies on the Pacific “ring of fire” where tectonic plates collide, causing frequent seismic and volcanic activity.

There were no fatalities or injuries of the recent eruption, the National Disaster Mitigation Agency said.

A large volcanic eruption has occurred at Mount Sinabung Volcano in Northern Sumatra, Indonesia. Visible on the Bureau's high definition satellite images #volcano #Sinabung pic.twitter.com/RsGldAz3yc — Bureau of Meteorology, Australia (@BOM_au) February 19, 2018

Indonesia has raised flight warnings around the Mount Sinabung volcano to their highest level.

Areas around the crater of the volcano, located about 1900km northwest of the capital Jakarta, have been off-limits for several years because of frequent volcanic activity.

The Australian Bureau of Meteorology’s Volcanic Ash Advisory Centre in Darwin issued maps on Monday showing an ash cloud heading in three directions from Sinabung, to the north, northwest and south-southeast.

Nur Isnin Istianto, head of the regional airport authority, said Kutacane airport in Aceh province had been closed, but the wind direction allowed the airport of Kualanamu, Meulaboh and Silangit to remain open.

everything is covered by volcanic ash. #Sinabung deserves more attention! Photo by Firdaus Surbakti pic.twitter.com/MVKmlvHeyT — Szabolcs Harangi (@szharangi) February 19, 2018

Tanaman tonat dan lahan pertanian tertutup abu vulkanik tebal pascaletusan Gunung Sinabung (19/2/2018). Petani mengalami kerugian akibat tanaman pertanian mati. Petani menjadi tambah miskin. #SinabungErupsi #Sinabung #volcano #volcan @BNPB_Indonesia pic.twitter.com/j3PmZacbib — Sutopo Purwo Nugroho (@Sutopo_PN) February 19, 2018

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