Aviation alert as volcano erupts
INDONESIA raised the alert level yesterday for the erupting Anak Krakatau volcano to the second-highest, and ordered all flights to steer clear, days after it triggered a tsunami that killed at least 430 people.
A crater collapse on the volcanic island at high tide last Saturday sent waves up to 5 metres high smashing into the coast on the Sunda Strait, between the islands of Java and Sumatra.
Authorities have warned that the crater of Anak Krakatau, or child of Krakatau, remains fragile, raising fears of another collapse and tsunami, and have urged residents to stay away from the coast.
The volcano has been rumbling on and off since July but has been particularly active since Sunday, spewing lava and rocks, and sending huge clouds of ash up to 3 000m into heavily overcast skies.
The national geological agency, in raising the alert level to the second-highest, set a 5km exclusion zone around the island. “Since December 23, activity has not stopped. We anticipate a further escalation,” said Antonius Ratdomopurbo, the secretary of the geological agency.
A thin layer of volcanic ash has been settling on buildings, vehicles and vegetation along the west coast of Java since late on Wednesday.
Authorities said the ash was not dangerous, but advised residents to wear masks and goggles when outside, while aircraft were ordered away.
“All flights are rerouted due to Krakatau volcano ash on red alert,” the government air-traffic control agency AirNav said in a release.
The civil aviation authority said no airports would be affected. In 1883, the volcano then known as Krakatoa erupted in one of the biggest blasts in recorded history, killing more than 36000 people in a series of tsunami.
Anak Krakatau is the island that emerged from the area in 1927 and has been growing ever since.
Indonesia is a vast archipelago that sits on the Pacific “Ring of Fire”. This year, the country has suffered its worst annual death toll from disasters in more than a decade.
The latest tsunami disaster, coming during the Christmas season, evoked memories of the Indian Ocean tsunami triggered by an earthquake on December 26, 2004, which killed 226000 people in 14 countries.
Tsunami warning systems were set up after 2004, but they have failed to prevent subsequent disasters, often because apparatus has not been maintained properly.
Ramdi Tualfredi, a teacher in the village of Cigondong, on Java’s west coast, said he had never got any instructions on safety steps, and efforts to prepare communities for tsunami had “totally failed”.
“There were no preparations. I didn’t get information from anywhere,” he said, adding there had been little help for residents since the disaster struck.
Nearly 22 000 people were displaced by the tsunami, while 1 495 were injured and 159 are missing.
Most of the displaced are staying in crowded shelters.
The government has declared a state of emergency until January 4. |