Thousands of civilians in a remote part of northeastern Ethiopia are being evacuated after potentially dangerous volcanic activity, officials said Friday. The evacuations come after steam eruptions have been seen since Thursday from the long-dormant volcano of Mount Dofen,

Ethiopia’s government said it is evacuating approximately 80,000 people following a series of small-scale earthquakes in the Afar, Oromia and Amhara regions. At least 10 earthquakes were reported in Ethiopia since Friday,

Evacuations were underway in Ethiopia Saturday after a series of earthquakes, the strongest of which, a 5.8-magnitude jolt, rocked the remote north of the Horn of Africa nation.

Shiferaw Teklemariam, from the Ethiopian Disaster Risk Management Commission, told the Reuters news agency that while it was too early to classify the activity as an eruption, authorities were taking precautions.

Authorities say over 51,000 residents remain at risk due to the increased seismic activity over the past two months. The Ethiopian Disaster Risk Management Commission said on January 4, that 13,000 people from the Afar and Oromia regions have already been moved.