Indonesian Scientists Put 11 Volcanoes Under Alert
From Correspondents in Jakarta - Agence France-Presse - 17
April 2005
Indonesian scientists have placed 11 volcanoes under close watch
after a series of powerful quakes awoke intense subterranean forces
and increased the chances of a major eruption.
As tens of thousands spent a third night in temporary camps after
fleeing the slopes of Mount Talang on Sumatra island, where hot
ash has been raining down since Monday, more volcanoes began rumbling
into life.
Late Wednesday, Anak Krakatau - the "child" of the legendary
Krakatoa that blew itself apart in 1883 in one of the worst-ever
natural disasters - was put on alert status amid warnings of poisonous
gas emissions.
No one lives on Krakatoa, a small island in the Sunda Strait between
Java and Sumatra, but the peak is a popular tourist spot, attracting
both Indonesian and foreign day trippers.
A similar warning was earlier issued for Tangkuban Perahu, near
the west Java city of Bandung. Next week the city will host more
than 50 heads of state, including China's president, at a summit
of Asian and African leaders.
Isya Nur Ahmad Dana of Indonesia's Vulcanology Office said Mount
Merapi, 70km north of the Sumatran city of Padang, had been on alert
since last August, but along with seven other peaks was now under
closer watch.
"The status of Tangkuban Perahu in west Java and Krakatau in
the Sunda Strait have both been raised from 'normal' to 'alert'
on Wednesday following an observed increase in volcanic activities,"
Dana said.
Amid growing fears of an imminent disaster in the wake of recent
powerful earthquakes and last year's devastating tsunami disaster,
the government has urged people to remain calm.
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono travelled to an area near Talang,
25km east of Padang, to meet some of the more than 20,000 people
who have fled villages on the fertile slopes of the smoking peak.
His deputy Yusuf Kalla also warned people living near other active
volcanoes to take precautions and urged local officials to make
contingency plans in anticipation of an eruption.
"We call on the people to really be alert," he said.
Indonesia has 130 active volcanoes, forming part of the Pacific
Ring of Fire - an arc of intense seismic activity that stretches
from quake-prone Japan through Southeast Asia and across the Pacific
basin.
The archipelago nation's proximity to the junction of three continental
plates, which jostle under immense pressure, makes it particularly
vulnerable to earthquakes and eruptions.
A massive 9.3 magnitude earthquake on December 26 triggered the
Indian Ocean tsunami that killed more than 220,000 people. A second
quake of 8.7 on the Richter scale from the same faultline killed
at least 670 people last month.
Scientists have warned of a possible third disaster, either a quake
or an eruption from a so-called super volcano, such as the giant
crater in which Lake Toba in Sumatra is located, where increased
activity has also been recorded.
Mount Talang, a 2599m volcano that last erupted in 2003, remains
on standby for eruption with scientists unable to determine if the
peak was beginning to calm down.
"Our team is still studying the data on site and we cannot
yet say whether the activities of Mount Talang have slowed down
or energy is building up for a bigger eruption," Dana said.
But he said there were no immediate moves to evacuate people around
Tangkuban Perahu, which straddles the territories of two districts
and the city of Bandung, with a total population of some 7.5 million
people.
One prominent Indonesian seismologist meanwhile expressed doubt
that the volcanic activity was linked to recent tremors as quakes
were linked to tectonic friction while eruptions were due to an
accumulation of molten magma.
"Theoretically, it can happen and there is a relationship,
but the correlation is not 100 percent and it rarely occurs,"
said Sarwidi, head of seismology studies centre at Indonesia's Islamic
University in Yogyakarta.
In the latest earth tremor, a 5.8-magnitude quake was recorded on
Sumatra island, according to the Hong Kong Observatory.
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