Mount Sinabung had been inactive for four centuries when it began spewing ash in 2010.
The volcano has been active ever since, and the surrounding North Sumatra province has been on top alert since July 2015.
In recent months Sinabung has has multiple eruptions, and just yesterday sent an ash column 2km into the sky.
Last year seven people were killed during one eruption, with another 16 fatalities in 2014.
More than 30,00 residents from 34 villages were evacuated from September 2013 to February 2014.
There is now a 7km exclusion zone around Sinabung – however some continue to enter the area.
Indonesia’s National Disaster Mitigation Agency spokesman Sutopo Nugroho warned tourists to stay away from the volcano.
“The sad part about that is often times people have moved back inside the danger zone because they say, ‘it hasn’t erupted, it will be fine’ — and then it erupts,” Emile Jansons, aviation services manager at the Volcanic Ash Advisory Centre (VAAC) told news.com.au.
Sinabung shows what could happen in Bali when Mount Agung eventually erupts.
More than 140,000 residents have been evacuated from the area surrounding the volcano, which has been rocked by several hundred earthquakes each day for the past three weeks.
And although white smoke has been spotted rising 1500m above Agung’s peak, there has not yet been an eruption.
Dr Rebecca Williams, geology group head at the University of Hull, says that it is not possible to predict when Agung will erupt – or how large it will be.
She said: “If Agung erupts, we don’t know if it will be one of the smaller or larger eruption styles.
“It is likely that the first eruption would be small, and there has been an evacuation to reflect this extending between 9km and 12km from the summit.
“Earthquake swarms like those that have been recorded in Bali sometimes precede volcanic eruptions. However, it is not possible to predict when this might happen.”
There are 127 active volcanoes in Indonesia, which lies on the Pacific Ring of Fire.