Volcano Mahameru Eruption in Indonesia Prompts Evacuations
The nation's Mount Semeru, the tallest summit on Java island, has exploded, covering several villages with falling ash, leading to evacuations and causing officials to elevate the warning to the highest level.
The mountain in the province of East Java released blistering plumes of fiery ash and a combination of rock, lava and gas that travelled up to 7km down its slopes several times from midday to dusk, while a thick column of hot clouds rose 2km into the air, according to the nation's geological authority.
The eruptions that unfolded throughout the day forced authorities to raise the volcano’s alert level twice, from the third-highest level to the highest, the authority reported. No deaths or injuries have been reported.
More than 300 inhabitants in the three villages most at risk in the district of Lumajang were evacuated to official safe havens, according to a representative for the national disaster mitigation agency.
He stated that increased activity of the volcano on Wednesday afternoon prompted authorities to widen the hazard area to 5 miles from the summit. People were advised to keep away from an zone along the Kobokan River, which is the path of the lava flow, as scorching gases flowed down the volcano's sides.
Footage on online platforms displayed a thick plume of volcanic dust moving through a forested valley to a river beneath a bridge. Locals, some with faces smeared with ash and rain, escaped to makeshift refuges or left for other safe areas.
Local media reported that authorities were struggling to rescue about 178 people stranded on the 12,060-foot peak at the Ranu Kumbolo observation station. The party comprised 137 climbers, 15 carriers, seven guides and six travel representatives, according to an spokesperson with the national park.
“They are currently safe at the Ranu Kumbolo station,” an official said in a video statement. He said the station was located 4.5km from the crater on the north side of the mountain, which is not in the path of the hot cloud flow that was observed moving to the south-southeast. Bad weather and precipitation required the team to spend the night there, he explained.
Semeru, also called Great Mountain, has erupted many occasions in the last two centuries. However, as is the situation with numerous of the 129 live volcanoes in the archipelago, thousands of residents continue to live on its productive highlands.
Semeru’s previous significant explosion was in December 2021, when 51 individuals were lost their lives and several hundred more were injured and villages were submerged in layers of mud. The eruption forced the relocation of over ten thousand residents from their homes.
Indonesia, an archipelago of over 280 million inhabitants, sits along the Pacific “ring of fire”, a horseshoe-shaped series of tectonic boundaries, and is prone to earthquakes and volcanism.
