Mount Mahameru Eruption in Indonesia Triggers Evacuations
The nation's Mount Semeru, the highest peak on the island of Java, has exploded, covering several villages with falling ash, prompting evacuations and causing officials to elevate the warning to the maximum level.
The mountain in the province of East Java released blistering plumes of fiery ash and a mixture of stone, molten rock, and gases that moved up to 7km down its sides several times from midday to dusk, while a dense plume of hot clouds rose 1.2 miles into the sky, according to Indonesia’s Geology Agency.
The eruptions that unfolded throughout the day forced officials to increase the mountain's warning status on two occasions, from the third-highest level to the top level, the agency said. No casualties have been reported.
More than 300 residents in the three villages most at risk in the district of Lumajang region were evacuated to government shelters, according to a spokesperson for the national disaster mitigation agency.
He said that increased activity of the mountain on the afternoon of Wednesday led authorities to expand the danger zone to 8km from the summit. Residents were urged to keep away from an zone along the Besuk Kobokan River, which is the path of the lava flow, as searing gas moved down Semeru’s slopes.
Footage on social media displayed a dense cloud of ash sweeping through a wooded ravine to a river beneath a overpass. Residents, some with faces smeared with volcanic dust and rain, fled to temporary shelters or departed for other safe areas.
Local media indicated that emergency teams were struggling to save about 178 individuals trapped on the 12,060-foot mountain at the Ranu Kumbolo monitoring post. The party included 137 hikers, 15 carriers, seven guides and six travel representatives, according to an spokesperson with the protected area.
“They remain secure at the Ranu Kumbolo station,” an official stated in a video statement. He noted the post was located 4.5km from the crater on the north side of the mountain, which is outside the trajectory of the fiery cloud movement that was observed moving to the southeast direction. Inclement conditions and rain forced the group to spend the night there, he added.
The volcano, also known as Great Mountain, has erupted numerous times in the last two centuries. However, as is the situation with numerous of the 129 active volcanoes in the archipelago, tens of thousands of people continue to live on its fertile slopes.
The mountain's last major eruption was in December 2021, when 51 people were killed and hundreds more were injured and villages were submerged in thick mud. The event forced the evacuation of over ten thousand residents from their homes.
The country, an archipelago of over 280 million people, is located along the Pacific seismic belt, a curved series of tectonic boundaries, and is prone to earthquakes and volcanism.
