Indonesia | Semeru volcano eruption toll rises to 14 dead

(Lumajang) Rescuers stepped up efforts Sunday to find survivors of the spectacular eruption of the Semeru volcano in Indonesia, which left at least 14 dead and dozens injured, according to a latest report.

The volcano in the east of the island of Java projected a vast plume of ash on Saturday, triggering panic among residents of surrounding villages, and blanketed the area around the crater with a thick gray layer.

At least 11 villages in Lumajang district were covered with a thick layer of ash, which almost completely buried some homes and vehicles, and killed livestock. More than 1,300 people were evacuated and had to find temporary shelters in schools, municipal halls or mosques.

“We didn’t know it was waves of burning mud,” said Bunadi, a resident of Kampung Renteng village. “All of a sudden the sky turned dark and rains and hot smoke came in.”

The ash projections from the volcano took residents by surprise on Saturday. Videos showed villagers running away in front of the growing gray cloud.

“The number of dead victims has reached 14 people,” spokesman for the disaster management agency Abdul Muhari said during a televised briefing on Sunday evening, one more than at the start of the day. .

The eruption left at least 56 people injured, including 41 burns, according to the agency.

Difficulties for lifeguards

Indonesian President Joko Widodo ordered the rescue services to do everything to come to the aid of the victims when the scale of the disaster revealed itself, said Pratikno, the secretary of state for the presidency.

About ten people trapped by the eruption were taken out by the emergency services from a sand mine where they had remained stranded.

But evacuations had to be temporarily suspended on Sunday because of clouds of burning ash, according to Metro TV, highlighting the difficulties faced by rescuers.

Heavy rains forecast for the next few days could further complicate operations, the weather service said.

Most of the burn victims took the floods of mud, carrying ash and debris, for flooding, and chose to stay in their villages underestimating the risks, the spokesperson for AFP told AFP. Lumajang Adi Hendro Police. “They didn’t have time to run away. ”

Authorities were still looking for nine people who have not been heard from.

Desolation scene

Images of villages around the crater show scenes of desolation, with rooftops and palm trees emerging from ash and debris covering the ground, in a landscape that has turned dark gray.

In the village of Kampung Renteng, “10 people were washed away by the mud,” said Salim, a resident.

“One of them was almost saved. He was told to run away, but he said “I can’t, who’s going to feed my cows? ”. ”

Authorities have asked residents not to approach within 5 km of the crater because the air saturated with ash dust in the area is dangerous for vulnerable people.

But the villagers in several localities tried, despite the risks, to save some goods from their destroyed houses, carrying mattresses and furniture on their shoulders, while others carried in their arms goats which had survived the cataclysm.

The head of the volcanology center said his services warned on Thursday of increased activity and risks for the Semeru volcano, the highest peak in Java, which rises to 3,676 meters.

Its last major eruption was in December 2020. It had also caused the flight of thousands of people and covered entire villages. The authorities had maintained since this episode the alert level of the volcano at the second highest.

Indonesia is located on the Pacific ‘Ring of Fire’, where the meeting of the continental plates causes high seismic activity. The Southeast Asian archipelago has nearly 130 active volcanoes on its territory.

At the end of 2018, the eruption of a volcano between the islands of Java and Sumatra had caused an underwater landslide and a tsunami, killing nearly 400 people.