Authorities on Monday raised the volcano’s alert level to the highest of a four-tiered system, telling locals and tourists not to carry out activities within a 7km radius of the crater.
Roofs of houses collapsed after they were hit by volcanic rocks, and locals were forced to shelter in communal buildings after the eruptions.
Residents described their horror when they realised they were in the shadow of an eruption, which they said was initially masked by adverse weather.
“I saw flames coming out and immediately fled. There were ashes and stones everywhere,” said 32-year-old hairdresser Hermanus Mite.
The disaster mitigation agency said more than 10,000 were affected.
There were multiple tremors and eruptions at the volcano last week, sending columns of ash between 500m and 2,000m into the sky several days in a row.
Laki-Laki, which means “man” in Indonesian, is twinned with a calmer volcano named after the Indonesian word for “woman”.
Indonesia, a vast archipelago nation, experiences frequent eruptions due to its position on the Pacific “Ring of Fire”, an area of intense volcanic and seismic activity.
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