ACID Gas clouds, lava released from Indonesia volcano
Indonesia's highest volcano Semeru released a column of ash over the densely populated island of East Java. Photo: AP
Indonesia’s highest volcano on its most densely populated island has released searing gas clouds and rivers of lava in its latest eruption.
Monsoon rains eroded and finally collapsed the lava dome atop 3676m Mt Semeru, causing the eruption, according to National Disaster Management Agency spokesperson Abdul Muhari.
Several villages were blanketed with falling ash, blocking out the sun, but no casualties have been reported. Several hundred residents, their faces smeared with volcanic dust and rain, fled to temporary shelters or left for other safe areas.
Thick columns of ash were blasted more than 1500m into the sky while searing gas and lava flowed down Semeru’s slopes toward a nearby river.
He said scientists raised the volcano’s alert level to the highest and people were advised to keep off the southeastern sector along the Besuk Kobokan River, which is in the path of the lava flow.
Semeru’s last major eruption was in December last year, when it blew up with fury that left 51 people dead in villages that were buried in layers of mud. Several hundred others suffered serious burns and the eruption forced the evacuation of more than 10,000 people. The government moved about 2970 houses out of the danger zone.
Semeru, also known as Mahameru, has erupted numerous times in the last 200 years. Still, as is the case with many of the 129 active volcanoes in Indonesia, tens of thousands of people continue to live on its fertile slopes.
Indonesia, an archipelago of more than 270 million people, sits along the Pacific “Ring of Fire”, a horseshoe-shaped series of fault lines, and is prone to earthquakes and volcanic activity.
-Reuters
Mount Semeru eruption: thousands evacuated in Java amid ash cloud warning
The volcano erupted last year, killing 50 people and damaging thousands of homes
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At least 2,000 people have been evacuated in East Java, Indonesia after Mount Semeru erupted, sending volcanic ash 15km into the atmosphere.
People have been relocated to 11 shelters on the island, Indonesia's disaster mitigation agency (BNPB) said, while search and rescue efforts were continuing on the island, about 640km east of the capital Jakarta.
One of the worst recorded eruptions of Semeru — the highest mountain on Java — was last year, killing 50 people and damaging approximately 3,000 homes and more than 20 schools.
The volcano has erupted about 55 times since the early 19th century, and while most of the eruptions have caused evacuations 11 recorded eruptions have led to deaths.
“Most roads have been closed since this morning and now it is raining volcanic ash and it has covered the view of the mountain,” community volunteer Bayu Deny Alfianto told Reuters from near the volcano.
Indonesia's Centre for Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation, the PVMBG, raised the level of volcanic activity to its highest level and warned residents not to approach to within 8km of Semeru's eruption centre.
Hot ash clouds have drifted nearly 20km from the centre of the eruption, it said.
PVMBG chief Hendra Gunawan said a bigger volume of magma could have built up compared with previous eruptions of the volcano, in 2021 and 2020, which could mean greater danger for a larger area.
“Semeru's hot clouds could reach further and at a distance where there are many residences,” he said.
In a video sent to Reuters by police in the area, villagers were seen moving away from the slopes of the volcano, some with belongings stacked on motorbikes. A damaged bridge was covered in volcanic ash.
There are 142 volcanoes in Indonesia which has the world's largest number of people living close to a volcano, with 8.6 million people within 10km of one.
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