JAKARTA, Dec 4 (Reuters) – A volcano erupted in Indonesia on Sunday, sending an ash cloud 15 km into the sky and forcing the evacuation of nearly 2,000 people, authorities said, as they issued their warning highest for the area east of Java Island.
There were no immediate reports of casualties from the Semeru volcano eruption, and Indonesia’s transport ministry said there was no impact on air travel, but warnings had been sent to two regional airports to watch out for .
“Most of the roads have been closed since this morning and now volcanic ash is raining down and has covered the view of the mountain,” Bayu community volunteer Deny Alfianto told Reuters by phone from near the volcano.
Semeru, Java’s highest mountain, erupted last year, killing more than 50 people and displacing thousands.
Indonesia’s disaster mitigation agency (BNPB) said 1,979 people had been moved to 11 shelters and authorities had distributed masks to residents. The eruption began at 2:46 am (Saturday 1946 GMT) and rescue, search and evacuation efforts were underway.
The volcano’s ash plume reached a height of 50,000 feet (15 km), said the Japan Meteorological Agency, which had initially been on alert for the possibility that the volcano could trigger a tsunami. He later dismissed it.
The eruption, about 640 km (400 miles) east of the capital, Jakarta, follows a series of earthquakes in West Java, including one last month that killed more than 300 people.
Indonesia’s Center for Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation, PVMBG, raised the level of volcanic activity to its highest level and warned residents not to come closer than 8 km (5 miles) from the center of the eruption of Semeru.
The hot ash clouds had drifted nearly 19 km (12 miles) from the center of the eruption, he said.
PVMBG head Hendra Gunawan said a larger volume of magma may have accumulated compared to the volcano’s previous eruptions in 2021 and 2020, which could pose a greater danger to a larger area .
“Semeru’s hot clouds could reach further and to a distance where there are many residences,” he said.
In a video sent to Reuters by local police, villagers were seen walking away from the volcano’s slopes, some with belongings piled on motorbikes. A damaged bridge was covered in volcanic ash.
With 142 volcanoes, Indonesia has the world’s largest population living near a volcano, with 8.6 million people within 10 km (6 miles) of one.
The deadly earthquake in late November that hit West Java was 5.6 magnitude but shallow. A 6.1 earthquake struck at a deeper depth on Saturday, sending people fleeing buildings but causing no major damage or casualties.
Reporting by Stefanno Sulaiman and Angie Teo in Jakarta; Additional reporting by Tetsushi Kajimoto in Tokyo; Edited by William Mallard and Lincoln Feast
Our standards: the Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.