A major volcanic eruption in Indonesia shrouded a large swath of the country’s most heavily populated island in ash yesterday, triggering the evacuation of more than 100,000 people and the closure of three international airports.
Two people were killed when the roofs of their homes collapsed under the weight of the ash and volcanic debris unleashed during an explosive overnight eruption of Java Island’s Mount Kelud that could be heard up to 200km away, the country’s disaster agency said.
Gray ash up to 2.5cm deep covered Surabaya, Indonesia’s second-largest city, and even farther afield in Yogyakarta, where motorists switched on headlights in daylight. In villages closer to the peak, cattle were covered in ash.
Photo: Reuters
International airports in Jogyakarta, Solo and Surabaya were closed due to reduced visibility and the dangers posed to aircraft engines by ash, Transport Ministry spokesman Bambang Ervan said. Virgin Australia said it had canceled all its flights yesterday to Bali, Phuket, Christmas Island and Cocos Island because of the eruption.
Indonesia’s disaster agency said tremors were still wracking the volcano, but scientists did not expect another major eruption. It said all villages within 10km of Kelud had been evacuated — more than 100,000 people — to temporary shelters, but that elsewhere villagers had returned to their homes to begin cleaning up.
The 1,731m Mount Kelud in eastern Java — Indonesia’s most densely populated island and home to more than half of the country’s 240 million people — has been rumbling for several weeks and was under close observation.
Muhammad Hendrasto, head of Indonesia’s volcano monitoring agency, said the mountain erupted violently about 90 minutes after authorities raised its alert status to the highest level. The disaster agency said it had spewed millions of cubic meters of debris into the atmosphere.
Kelud is among about 130 active volcanoes in Indonesia. The archipelagic nation is prone to volcanic eruptions and earthquakes because of its location on the so-called “Ring of Fire” — a series of fault lines stretching from the Western Hemisphere through Japan and Southeast Asia.
Due to the fertile volcanic soil and the shortage of space on Java, hundreds of thousands of people live close to active volcanoes. They are used to the rumblings, but their proximity to the peaks presents difficulties for authorities.
The last major eruption at Kelud was in 1990, when it kicked out searing fumes and lava that killed more than 30 people and injured hundreds. In 1919, a powerful explosion that reportedly could be heard hundreds of kilometers away killed at least 5,160 people.
Earlier this month, Mount Sinabung in North Sumatra Province erupted as authorities were allowing thousands of villagers who had been evacuated to return to its slopes, killing 16 people. Sinabung has been erupting for four months, forcing the evacuation of more than 30,000 people.
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