MAUMERE, Indonesia—Indonesia’s Mount Lewotobi Laki Laki volcano emitted massive columns of hot ash into the sky on Saturday, following a deadly eruption earlier in the week that claimed nine lives and left many others injured.
Activity at the volcano on the remote island of Flores, in East Nusa Tenggara province, has been escalating since the initial eruption on Monday. Authorities expanded the danger zone on Thursday as the volcano erupted once again.
On Friday, the volcano spewed its largest column of ash on record, reaching a height of 6.2 miles, according to Hadi Wijaya, the head of the Center for Volcanology and Geological Disaster Mitigation.
Wijaya reported that volcanic materials such as smoldering rocks, lava, and hot fragments of gravel and ash were ejected up to 5 miles from the crater on Friday.
No casualties were reported from the latest eruption, as the 5,197-foot volcano released billowing columns of ash multiple times on Saturday, reaching heights of up to 5.6 miles, as stated by the volcano monitoring agency.
Authorities raised the alert status of Lewotobi Laki Laki to the highest level since Monday and expanded the danger zone on Thursday to a radius of 5 miles on the northwest and southwest sides of the mountain slope.
“We are currently assessing the necessary expansion of the danger zone radius,” Wijaya mentioned. Hot clouds of ash are spreading in all directions.
The volcanic activity has caused significant damage to schools, thousands of houses, and various buildings including convents, churches, and a seminary on the predominantly Catholic island.
Craters left by falling rocks from the eruptions measured up to 43 feet wide and 16 feet deep, as per experts’ findings.
Authorities have advised the thousands of evacuees not to return home, as plans are underway to evacuate around 16,000 residents from the danger zone. The eruptions throughout the week have impacted over 10,000 individuals in 14 villages, with more than half seeking refuge in temporary emergency shelters.
A total of 2,384 houses and public facilities have been damaged or collapsed due to tons of volcanic material hitting the structures, according to Kanesius Didimus, the head of a local disaster management agency. The volcanic activity also destroyed a main road connecting East Flores district to neighboring Larantuka district.
Rescue teams, police, and soldiers are combing through the affected areas to ensure all residents have been safely evacuated. Logistic support and relief supplies have been provided to approximately 10,700 displaced individuals across eight evacuation sites as of Saturday.
The National Disaster Management Agency has announced plans to relocate residents of the worst-hit villages within six months, with each waiting family to receive compensation of 500,000 rupiah ($32) per month.
In January, around 6,500 people were evacuated when Mount Lewotobi Laki Laki first erupted, leading to the closure of the island’s Fransiskus Xaverius Seda Airport. No casualties or significant damage were reported at that time, but the airport has remained closed due to ongoing seismic activity.
Following the recent eruptions, three other airports in neighboring districts have been shut down due to safety concerns from volcanic ash.
Lewotobi Laki Laki is part of a pair of stratovolcanoes in the East Flores district, known locally as the “husband-and-wife mountains.” It is one of Indonesia’s 120 active volcanoes in the Ring of Fire, a region prone to earthquakes, landslides, and volcanic activity.
By Jakobus Herin and Niniek Karmini
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