Jakarta: Thousands of residents were put on high alert on Monday after a violent eruption at the island’s highest volcano in East Java, Indonesia, forced authorities to impose an 8-kilometer no-go zone and evacuate entire villages. . Basarnas spokesman Tholib Vatelehan told Reuters the provincial search and rescue agency deployed teams to the worst-affected areas near Mount Semeru, where less rain brought some relief, to assess the damage.
“Yesterday, the rainfall level was high, causing all the material to come down from the top of the mountain. But today, it has not rained yet, so it is relatively safe,” he said.
No casualties were reported and there was no immediate disruption to air travel.
The 3,676-metre-high volcano erupted at 2.46 pm local time (0746GMT) on Sunday. Footage shot by local residents showed Mount Semeru spewing a huge cloud of gray ash over its crater, which later enveloped the mountain and surrounding rice paddy fields, roads and bridges, darkening the sky. done. A video shared by the environment ministry on Twitter showed a pyroclastic flow of lava, rocks and hot gases cascading down the mountain.
Officials said people fled the blaze on motorcycles, forcing the evacuation of some 2,500 people.
Indonesia’s Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation Agency on Sunday raised the alert level for Mount Semeru to the highest level. The agency also issued a warning for residents not to come within 8 km (5 mi) of the summit or within 500 meters of rivers due to the risk of lava flows.
Semeru had erupted last year, killing more than 50 people and displacing thousands.
The eruption followed a series of earthquakes in west Java, about 640 km (400 miles) east of the capital Jakarta, including last month’s quake that killed more than 300 people.
An archipelago of 270 million that sits along the Pacific Ring of Fire, Indonesia is one of the most disaster-prone countries on Earth.
With 142 volcanoes, Indonesia has the largest population living close to a volcano globally, including 8.6 million within 10 km (6.2 mi).