JAKARTA, Sept. 4 (UPI) -- Officials in Indonesia say scores of people stayed away from their homes near Mount Sinabung for fear of another eruption of the volcano Saturday.

A significant eruption Friday was felt 4.9 miles away and sent area residents scurrying back to the evacuation shelters they had only recently left.

"This was the strongest eruption as ash plumes reached 3,000 meters (9,842 feet)," Surono, the head of the Volcanology and Geological Disaster Mitigation Center, told The Jakarta Post.

Sinabung had been dormant for some four centuries before it awakened last weekend. There have been three eruptions since then and scientists admit they don't know what will happen next.