According to news reports, Awu began erupting small ash plumes on 5 June. On 7 June, following a 48-hour-long period of increasing activity, authorities raised the Volcano Warning Level from Alert to Ready at 1040 and finally to Beware, the highest level of alert, at 1600. By 8 June, continuous small earthquakes were occurring and small eruptions produced gas-and-ash plumes and threw small ballistics up to 2 km above the summit. Up to 20,000 people have been evacuated from the area around the volcano.

Geological Summary. The massive Gunung Awu stratovolcano occupies the northern end of Great Sangihe Island, the largest of the Sangihe arc. Deep valleys that form passageways for lahars dissect the flanks of the volcano, which was constructed within a 4.5-km-wide caldera. Powerful explosive eruptions in 1711, 1812, 1856, 1892, and 1966 produced devastating pyroclastic flows and lahars that caused more than 8000 cumulative fatalities. Awu contained a summit crater lake that was 1 km wide and 172 m deep in 1922, but was largely ejected during the 1966 eruption.

Sources: The Jakarta Post, Darwin Volcanic Ash Advisory Centre (VAAC), Agence France-Presse (AFP), ABC News - Australian Broadcasting Corporation, Reuters