Indonesia's Mount Semeru volcano erupts, prompting evacuations

• The statement noted that Indonesia's Center for Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation (PVMBG) advised residents to avoid the southeastern sector along the Besuk Kobokan River, which could be affected by hot ash clouds and lava flow.
• Residents should also avoid coming within a 5 km (about 3 mile) radius from the top of Mount Semeru, due to the danger of "throwing stones (incandescent)."
• Hot ash clouds had drifted nearly 19km (about 12 miles) from the center of the eruption, the statement said, adding that "volcanic ash from the Semeru volcano was also reported soaring in dark gray and black."
• Mount Semeru is Indonesia's highest volcano and is located on the Island of Java, its most densely populated island. Several villages were covered in ash, which was blasted more than 1,500 meters (nearly 5,000 feet) into the sky, AP reported.

State of play: According to the National Disaster Management Agency, 1,979 people were evacuated due to the eruption and moved to 11 evacuation sites.

• "A total of 10,000 cloth masks, 10,000 medical masks and 4,000 children's masks have been distributed to reduce the impact of respiratory health risks due to volcanic ash," the statement read.

• Japan's Meteorology Agency said Sunday that the volcano's ash plume had reached 15 kilometers (roughly 50,000 feet) into the air, per Reuters.

The big picture: Indonesia frequently experiences earthquakes and other extreme weather events due to its location along the so-called "ring of fire" in the Pacific — an arrangement of fault lines and volcanoes in the Pacific Basin.

• The volcanic eruption comes after several earthquakes struck Java recently, including a 6.1 magnitude quake on Saturday.
• Last month, a 5.6 magnitude earthquake in West Java killed hundreds of people.
• Mount Semeru's last major eruption came last December, killing 51 people, per AP.