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STEVE INSKEEP, host:
It's MORNING EDITION, from NPR News. Good morning. I'm Steve Inskeep.
For weeks now, Indonesia's most active volcano has been sending tons of ash and rock into the air.�It has killed more than 200 people, and more than a quarter of a million have fled their homes.�NPR's Anthony Kuhn joined a search-and-rescue mission near the foot of the mountain this morning. He's now on the line from the city of Solo on the Indonesian island of Java.
Anthony, where have you been today?
ANTHONY KUHN: Very early this morning, Steve, I set out with Kopassus, the army special forces. And we went on a search-and-rescue mission just a couple of miles from the foot of the mountain. What we saw was a charred moonscape. Flows of lava and hot gases had flowed down the volcano, scorched an entire village. The army unit we were with said they found seven bodies - or at least charred sets of remains. It was a very powerful and very dangerous scene.
And had there been further eruptions, there could've been real trouble for the soldiers and the journalists. The eruption is continuing at a slow rate. It started on the 26th of October, but the biggest blast was on November 5th. And since then, it just keeps on billowing smoke and ash.
INSKEEP: Will you help describe the landscape there, Anthony, and how it's changing? Are there rivers of lava coming down, or is it more ash falling through the air?
KUHN: Well, what's happening is the wind is blowing westward. So yesterday, I went west of the volcano. And there, it's like snowing huge pieces of ash. And that ash is heavy, and it collapses all the trees. And most of the farmers there farm tropical fruits. So it's destroyed all their crops. Everything - all the palm trees and the fruit trees have all collapsed. And a lot of houses have collapsed, too.
Now, just to the south of the volcano is the major Javanese city of Jakarta. And so far, that's safe. But we had to abort our mission very quickly this morning because the winds started to change direction and blow south.
INSKEEP: So you have these blasts of the volcano, and they're flinging out ash. And depending on which way the wind is going, you really don't want to be downwind from the volcano at that moment. That's what's happening here?
KUHN: That's correct. And I also went to a hospital where I spoke to burn victims. And they were hit by what are called pyroclastic flows, which are flows of gas hundreds of degrees hot.
And I spoke to one man who was burned very seriously in his house, hiding under his own mattress. So these flows of gas flow down following riverbeds, coming off the slope of the volcano. And they hit communities near the rivers, and they can be devastating.
INSKEEP: One other thing, Anthony Kuhn. You mentioned you were out with the special forces who were looking to rescue people, or at least recover bodies. Is it believed that there are significant numbers of people still in danger and within range of the volcano?
KUHN: Yes. Well, volcanologists actually predicted this eruption before it happened. So they managed to evacuate large numbers of people. I also went to a stadium yesterday where the refugees are living. But, you know, not all the residents heeded the warnings.
And one reason for this is they have this so-called spiritual guardian of the mountain who didn't think the eruption was going to happen. And a lot of people listened to him. So, you know, as we were going out to the volcano today, we passed farmers cultivating their rice paddies, just about oblivious to this huge volcanic activity going on right to the north of them.
INSKEEP: What happened to that spiritual leader, Anthony?
KUHN: He, himself, became a burned offering to the mountain, you could say. He was found in his home, burned to death in a prayer position. The appointment of the next guardian is up to the local sultan. There's a selection process in progress right now.
INSKEEP: NPR's Anthony Kuhn has been moving around the base of the volcano in Indonesia.
Anthony, thanks very much.
KUHN: Thank you, Steve.
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Technical Report
ACT Alert: Mentawai Islands Earthquake & Tsunami, West Sumatra, Indonesia
Source: ACT Alliance - Switzerland
Elisabeth Gouel
Website: http://www.actalliance.org
Reuters and AlertNet are not responsible for the content of this article or for any external internet sites. The views expressed are the author's alone.
Alert
Indonesia - No. 36/2010
Mentawai Islands Earthquake & Tsunami - West Sumatra
Geneva, 28 October 2010
1. Brief description of the emergency
A 7.7 Richter Scale earthquake hit the Mentawai Islands, West Sumatra, at 21h40 local time on 25 October. The epicentre was located 240km southwest of Pagai Selatan Island at a shallow depth of 14.2km. A total of 95 aftershocks have since been reported. The earthquake triggered a 3m-high tsunami with waves slamming inland about 600m and reaching the roofs of houses in the coastal villages on North Pagai and South Pagai Islands.
2. Impact
The worst hit areas are North and South Pagai and the Sikakap Islands. According to the Sikakap Sub-district Office, 344 people have lost their lives, 338 people are missing, 249 people are severely injured and 184 people slightly injured. A total of 640 households (245 in Sikakap Sub-district, 150 in North Pagai, 120 in South Pagai and 125 in South Sipora) have been evacuated to higher ground. A total of 492 houses were destroyed and 160 were slightly damaged. Moreover, four houses of worship, three school buildings, three office buildings and 10 bridges are damaged.
Food supplies, clean water, shelter, clothing, medicines, blankets and medical teams are badly needed. Response is slow since the areas are isolated and can only be accessed by boat or helicopter.
3. National Response
As of 27 October the National Disaster Task Force of Indonesia (BNPB) is sending seven tons of aid: 500 tents, 50 family tents, 500 mats, 80 blankets and 650 food packages. The government has declared a state of emergency in Mentawai Islands for 14 days following the earthquake. Search and rescue teams are still looking for missing people. The Ministry of Social Affairs has sent instant food, blankets, clothing, clean water, etc, while it is also making available an amount of 500 million Indonesian rupiah (around US$ 56,000) in cash for the response. The Ministry of Health is sending four tons of medicines.
4. ACT Alliance Indonesia Forum Response
Staff of ACT Alliance Indonesia Forum members Church World Service (CWS), YAKKUM Emergency Unit (YEU) and Yayasan Tanggul Bencana di Indonesia (YTBI) arrived on Sikakap Island on Thursday, 28 October to conduct a joint assessment. YTBI carried food and non-food items, YEU sent a medical team and supplies, while CWS has provided 140 baby kits.
The forum members are monitoring the situation and coordinating for a possible ACT appeal.
Any funding indication or pledge should be communicated to Jean-Daniel Birmele, ACT Chief Finance Officer (Jean_Daniel.Birmele@actalliance.org).
(ends)
ACT Alliance - Action by Churches Together - is a global alliance of churches and related agencies working together in disaster response, development and advocacy work through a coordinated approach.
The ACT Alliance is a member of SCHR, ICVA and HAP, and it adheres to the Red Cross Code of Conduct and the Principles of Partnership. It is committed to follow and implement the Sphere Minimum Standards.
[ Any views expressed in this article are those of the writer and not of Reuters. ]
Islands of Indonesia
Major Volcanoes of Indonesia
Krakatau
Tuesday, November 02, 2010 7:59:29 AM by BNO News
JAKARTA, INDONESIA (BNO NEWS) — With Indonesia facing twin disasters from Mount Merapi’s eruptions and the Mentawai islands tsunami, Mount Anak Krakatau’s activity is increasing and sea temperatures nearby are rising due to its activity, officials said on Tuesday.
Mount Anak Krakatau, which is located off the west coast of Java, near Krakatau Island and to the southeast of Sumatra, began spewing out volcanic material over the past few days.
Andi Suhardi, who heads the Anak Krakatau observation, explained that the volcano usually has 90 to 100 small scale eruptions on a daily basis, but currently up to 700 minor eruptions are recorded every day.
As solid material falls on its mountain slopes, Anak Krakatau began to have increased activity following Mount Merapi’s initial eruption last week, Andi said. However, experts say there are no links between the volcanoes.
“No connections exist between the two because they both have their own magma pockets,” Agus Budiyanto, head of the volcano observation team at the Center of Volcanology and Geological Mitigation Agency in Bandung, West Java, said.
Meanwhile, Lucas Donny Setijadji, a volcanologist from Yogyakarta, seconded Budiyanto, saying that Mount Merapi’s eruption only resulted in small tremors, which were too weak to trigger other eruptions.
The stronger 7.7-magnitude earthquake that caused the Mentawai islands tsunami, however, was strong enough to have been able to trigger the Merapi and Anak Krakatau volcanic activity through tectonic movement.
Authorities have warned citizens, fishermen, and tourists to stay at least 3 kilometers (1.8 miles) away from Krakatau. In addition, the temperature of sea water in the Sunda Strait has risen due to the material flow of volcanic activity of Anak Krakatau.
In August 1883, Krakatau erupted and killed at least 40,000 people, creating what is considered to have been the loudest sound in world history as it was heard up to 4,828 kilometers (3,000 miles) away. The eruption discharged the energy of 13,000 nuclear bombs similar to the size and strength of Little Boy, which was dropped on Hiroshima during World War II.
The eruption destroyed over 70 percent of the island and began the formation of Anak Krakatau, which translates to Krakatau’s Child and grows an estimated 5 meters (16.4 feet) each year.
Mount Merapi
The steep-sided, cone-shaped Mount Merapi volcano is both boon and curse to the people of Indonesia. Volcanic ash from its frequent eruptions makes the soil fertile enough to support a large population. It is also one of Indonesia’s most active volcanoes, posing a constant threat to tens of thousands of people who live in its shadow. On October 26, 2010, the volcano once again turned destructive, unleashing a series of eruptions that had killed at least 44 people and forced 75,000 people from their homes, said CNN on November 4.
The mountain has been shrouded in clouds throughout the eruption, but on October 30 the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) on NASA’s Terra satellite captured the thermal signature of hot ash and rock and a glowing lava dome. The thermal data is overlaid on a three-dimensional map of the volcano to show the approximate location of the flow. The three-dimensional data is from a global topographic model created using ASTER stereo observations.
The Center of Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation reported that two pyroclastic flows moved down the volcano on October 30. A pyroclastic flow is an avalanche of extremely hot gas, ash, and rock that tears down the side of a volcano at high speeds. ASTER imaged one of those flows.
Merapi shows no signs of slowing. After several days of eruptive episodes, the volcano began an eruption on November 3 that was five times more intense than on October 26 and lasted more than 24 hours. It is the most violent eruption at the volcano since the 1870s, said local geologists.
1. References
2. Global Volcanism Program. (n.d.) Merapi. Smithsonian. Accessed November 4, 2010.
3. Global Volcanism Program. (2010, November 2). Smithsonian/USGS weekly volcanic activity report, 27 October–2 November 2010. Smithsonian. Accessed November 4, 2010.
4. Klemetti, E. (2010, November 4). Merapi update for 11/4/2010: The eruption worsens. Eruptions. Accessed November 4, 2010.
5. Malik, C. and Satriastanti, F.E. (2010, November 4). Merapi’s latest outburst its longest so far. Jakarta Globe. Accessed November 4, 2010.
6. Quiano, K. (2010, November 4). Volcano death toll climbs to 44. CNN. Accessed November 4, 2010.
7. Sagita, D. (2010, November 3). ‘Eruptions happen,’ say officials, urging preparation and calm. Jakarta Globe. Accessed November 4, 2010.
8. U.S. Geological Survey Volcano Hazards Program. (2010, April 19). VHP photo glossary: Pyroclastic flow. Accessed November 4, 2010.
How This Could All Tie Together
Geologists warn Indonesia quake could awaken nearby volcano
Merapi, one of the most active of the 130 volcanoes considered dangerous across the Indonesian archipelago, killed 66 people in its last major eruption in 1994.
by Bhimanto Suwastoyo
Jakarta (AFP) May 30, 2006
Geologists warned Tuesday that simmering Mount Merapi volcano could blow its top in the wake of the powerful quake that devastated swathes of Indonesia's main island of Java.
"Theoretically as well as statistically, there is a very large possibility that tectonic activities trigger or increase volcanic activities," said Syamsulrizal, who works at Indonesia's national vulcanology office.
Quake activity near a dormant volcano may "switch it on," while already active volcanoes could see more intense rumblings, said the head of the office's department for disaster risk evaluation.
Since Saturday's 6.3-magnitude earthquake, seismologists have noted increased flows of lava and heat clouds at Merapi, just north of the temblor's epicentre.
Authorities had already issued a red alert ahead of a possible eruption and shelter camps were set up to house more than 24,000 people evacuated from its slopes.
Most of those have since returned home to tend flocks and crops as attention has switched to the humanitarian crisis to the south where 5,400 were killed, thousands more injured and 200,000 left homeless by the quake.
There are fears that an eruption could further devastate the area and strain the stretched quake relief effort.
"Because a volcano's activities are linked to its system of fluid dynamics, any temblor would certainly have an effect," said Gede Suwantika, who heads the quake monitoring section of the vulcanology office in Yogyakarta.
He said the high magma pressure inside the volcano could rise further as one of the two tectonic plates that meet under the Indian Ocean south of Java slides under the island, as happens in a quake.
"Statistically, this rising activity is already shown by the much higher frequency of heat clouds emitted by Merapi during the post-earthquake period," he told AFP from Yogyakarta, just 30 kilometers (20 miles) south of Merapi.
Earthquakes are caused by movements, often very slight, of parts of the earth's crust. The movements release energy and produce the shockwaves which cause the earth tremors.
Volcanic activities occur when fluid magma finds its way to the surface.
In the early hours of Tuesday, Merapi sent out 10 heat clouds and 120 lava trails, some of them two kilometers long, said Tri Yani of the vulcanology office in Yogyakarta.
Plumes of smoke were seen rising some 900 metres (3,000 feet) into the air -- nearly double the height seen the previous day.
After calming down for a few days, Merapi belched significant heat cloud torrents shortly after Saturday's temblor.
On Monday, Merapi sent out 186 lava trails and 88 heat clouds, Yani said.
Suwantika said Indonesia's volcanic and tectonic channels followed the same lines along the boundaries between different tectonic plates, perhaps explaining why Merapi would become more active following the earthquake.
Scientists have warned that the main danger posed by Merapi is the deadly heat clouds, which can travel some 100 kilometers an hour with sustained temperatures of up to 600 degrees Celsius, incinerating everything on its path.
Merapi, one of the most active of the 130 volcanoes considered dangerous across the Indonesian archipelago, killed 66 people in its last major eruption in 1994.
Its deadliest eruption in recent times occurred in 1930, when more than 1,300 people perished.
The volcano's relative period of calm last week prompted many of the 22,000 people evacuated earlier in the month to return home. Only 2,000 people remained in temporary shelters around the peak on Tuesday.
My Statement
Considering all these various articles and maps, it’s important to consider what impacts these recent volcanic eruptions might have on surrounding volcanoes. If one eruption could potentially trigger a nearby volcano, then short term mitigation efforts should be underway for areas now at increased risk. Hopefully by seeing the plate boundaries, directions of those plates, and where the volcanoes are located, there is a better understanding of how these eruptions took place and how they could potentially trigger subsequent activity. I would estimate that this isn’t the last we hear from this incredibly island in the near future. I dare to even further state that existing volcanoes along the same subducting plate was Merapi and Krakatau will be showing new increased activity shortly.
