East Java Tourism News

Thousands return as Indonesia downgrades volcano alert

November 8th, 2007

BLITAR, Indonesia (AFP) — Thousands of Indonesians living around the slopes of a steaming volcano began returning home Thursday after authorities downgraded a warning that it was about to erupt, officials said.

Indonesia’s volcanology office advised that Mount Kelut no longer appeared poised for an imminent eruption, saying that the historically deadly peak in heavily-populated East Java had released most of its energy.
“The energy that has accumulated since 11 September, 2007 has mostly been spent in an effusive eruption process and has continuously been used in the forming of a lava dome,” the office said in a statement.

New lava has oozed through cracks in the volcano to create a dome rising out of its crater lake, displacing most of the water inside.

Kelut was put on top alert on October 16 after continuous tremors indicated an eruption was in process.

The volcano’s activities, however, have been limited to spewing steam and other gases while the new dome formed, though a spike in tremors last Saturday caused volcanologists to flee their posts as they mistakenly thought a fully-fledged eruption was taking place.

The volcanology office said that residents could return to their homes, but it called on them to remain alert and be prepared to leave should the 1,731-metre (5,679-foot) volcano show renewed dangerous activity.

Noxious gases still being emitted from the crater and a possible eruption involving sludge from the crater lake flowing down the slopes meant that a radius of three kilometres (two miles) should remain off-limits, it added.

Military trucks ferried residents — many of whom were begrudgingly evacuated — from shelters back to their homes, an AFP correspondent said.

“I told you that Kelut wouldn’t erupt. They forced me to evacuate and I’ve had an uncomfortable time in the shelter,” 78-year-old clove farmer Tejo complained to AFP.

According to health ministry figures, about 134,000 people live in a 10-kilometre radius of the peak, which was declared a danger zone during the intensified activity at the volcano.

Kelut explosively erupted in 1990, sending searing gases and volcanic debris shooting down its slopes that killed 34, after authorities downgraded a similar alert. But volcanologist Agus Budianto said that the volcano’s condition then was totally different.

“We have downgraded Kelut’s alert status after it has erupted in an effusive way, meaning that all the energy accumulated since the volcano was put on top alert has already been released,” he explained.

Mount Kelut’s eruptions have claimed more than 15,000 lives, including an estimated 10,000 in a catastrophic 1586 eruption. A 1919 eruption spewed heat clouds that killed 5,160 people.

The volcano is located about 90 kilometres southwest of Surabaya, Indonesia’s second largest city.

Indonesia sits on the so-called Pacific “Ring of Fire,” where several continental plates collide, causing frequent seismic and volcanic activity.

Source: http://afp.google.com/

Entry Filed under: East Java News