The inhabitants of seven villages were evacuated from their homes due to the eruption of the volcano Ibu on the remote island Halmahera of Indonesiathe authorities announced today.

Ibu erupted yesterday evening, Saturday, spewing ash 4 kilometers into the sky, according to information and photos released by Indonesia’s volcanology service.

A joint team consisting of police, military and search and rescue officials was dispatched to the area to evacuate residents of nearby villages, the statement said. Abdul Muhari of the Indonesian Disaster Management Agency.

Photos released by the agency show members of the group helping the elderly and transporting residents in trucks to other areas for overnight shelter in makeshift tents.

The agency did not provide further information on the number of people evacuated. However, the authorities recommended the evacuation of all those within a radius of 7 kilometers from the volcano.

Indonesia’s volcanology agency had raised the alert level for the risk of the volcano erupting to its highest level since Thursday, after multiple eruptions occurred in Ibu earlier this month.

Ibu’s escalating activity follows a series of eruptions at various other volcanoes in Indonesia, which sits on the Pacific Ocean’s “Ring of Fire” and has 127 active volcanoes.

More than 60 people have died in floods and landslides of cold lava from the Marapi volcano, one of the most active in the province of West Sumatrawhich were caused by torrential rains on May 11 and swept the surrounding areas.

In recent weeks, it has also exploded ruang volcano, in the North Sulawesispewing red-hot lava and forcing authorities to evacuate more than 12,000 people to a nearby island due to the eruption.