Indonesia to permanently relocate thousands of residents after deadly volcanic eruptions
The Indonesian government plans to permanently relocate thousands of residents following a series of eruptions at Mount Lewotobi Laki-laki volcano that killed nine people and damaged thousands of houses.
Mount Lewotobi Laki-laki, located on Flores Island in Indonesia’s southernmost province of East Nusa Tenggara, erupted on Sunday night, followed by smaller eruptions on Monday and Tuesday.
It remains on the highest volcanic alert status.
Permanent relocation is considered a “long-term mitigation measures” to anticipate similar eruption in the future, said Suharyanto, the head of Indonesia’s disaster agency in a statement on Wednesday.
The government aimed to relocate all residents living within a 7 kilometre radius of the crater, he added.
The local government has declared a state of emergency for the next 57 days and prohibited any activity in that area.
There are more than 16,000 residents living in the villages nearest to the volcano, but the government is still calculating how many people will be permanently relocated.
Heronimus Lamawuran, a spokesperson for the East Flores regional government, said at least 2,500 people had been evacuated as of Wednesday morning.
The sky turned red after the eruption of Mount Lewotobi Laki-Laki early on Monday. (PVMBG/AP)
Suharyanto said the government would also build houses for the relocation, without giving further detail.
“The volcano cannot be moved so it is the people who must move to safer locations,” he said.
Similar permanent relocation plans were announced in May after eruptions of the Ruang volcano in the North Sulawesi province.
On Tuesday, Indonesia’s volcanology agency raised the status of another volcano located in East Nusa Tenggara province, around 200km from Mount Lewotobi Laki-laki, to the second-highest level due to its “rising” volcanic activity. However, no eruption was recorded as of Wednesday.
Hadi Wijaya, the spokesperson for the agency, said the rising activity of Mount Iya had no correlation with eruptions of Mount Lewotobi Laki-laki.
How common are deadly eruptions in Indonesia?
Indonesia straddles the so-called “Pacific Ring of Fire”, an area of high seismic activity where multiple tectonic plates meet.
The 1,584-metre Mount Lewotobi Laki Laki is one of 120 active volcanoes in the country.
Indonesia’s Center for Volcanology and Geological Disaster Mitigation has recorded 4,796 volcanic eruptions across the vast archipelago nation since January.
Most eruptions are minor and cause little to no damage, but some can be deadly.
Mount Marapi erupted in December last year, killing 24 climbers and injuring others who were caught by its sudden weekend eruption.
Five months later, monsoon rains triggered a landslide of mud and cold lava from Mount Marapi, causing rivers to breach their banks. The deluge tore through mountainside villages and swept away people and dozens of homes, killing 67 people.
An eruption in December 2021 of Mount Semeru, the highest volcano on the densely populated Java island, left 48 people dead and 36 missing in villages that were buried in layers of mud.
Mount Merapi also erupted in 2010, killing 347 people and displacing 20,000 villagers.
The monumental eruption of the Krakatau volcano in 1883 triggered a period of global cooling.
Reuters/AP
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