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Surono: A modern gatekeeper of volcanoes
Antara/Regina Safri Whenever there is talk of volcanoes erupting in Indonesia, Dr
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Antara/Regina Safri Whenever there is talk of volcanoes erupting in Indonesia, Dr. Surono is bound to get a mention.
The 65-year-old head of the Volcanology and Geological Disaster Mitigation Center (PVMBG) at the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry is seen as the most reliable source of information on volcano eruptions.
It comes as no surprise he has been in the limelight recently, with the ongoing Merapi volcano eruptions on the border of Yogyakarta and Central Java provinces.
Even before the volcano’s alert status was increased to the highest level on Oct. 25, Surono’s scientific analysis of Merapi was headline news. He has frequently appeared on radio and television programs nationwide to provide detailed analysis on volcanic activity in the country.
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono formulates his evacuation policies based on Surono’s advice. He was specially invited to the State Palace on Nov. 1 to brief the President on the Merapi crisis.
Many consider the Merapi eruptions this year as exceptional, especially because of the explosive nature of the volcano’s activity. But, Surono begs to differ.
“For me, Merapi is just like any other volcanoes. It isn’t more or less special compared to the others. Every volcano is unique for me,” Surono said at the Volcanic Technology Development and Research Center (BPPTK) office in Yogyakarta, on Tuesday.
People were shocked by the explosions and thundering sounds accompanying the eruptions this time, he said, because they had never heard such sounds before. They wondered why no lava dome had formed prior to the eruptions. They were surprised the volcano erupted after just a day of being on the top alert status, while previously it had taken longer to erupt.
“People rely on their own experience of Merapi. In fact, Merapi follows its own rhythm. We can only follow it,” the 65-year-old said.
A top alert status was declared on Oct. 25 at 6 a.m., followed by an eruption the next day at 5 p.m. Ever since, Merapi has erupted almost uninterruptedly with fluctuating intensity. On Tuesday, the intensity of eruptions decreased, although volcanic activity was still high.
“Actually I like seeing Merapi continuously erupt. That way its energy will decrease, and hopefully big eruptions will stop,” said Surono who has been monitoring the volcano since Oct. 21, a day after it was put on the second top alert status.
To make sure his office provides reliable analysis, Surono has temporarily moved from his base at the PVMBG office in Bandung, West Java, to Yogyakarta.
Ever since he relocated, Surono has been working around the clock, barely finding time to sleep, let alone see his wife Sri Surahmani.
“My wife came to meet me here but it’s no use. I come home late every night, and sometimes don’t come home at all,” said the father of two daughters.
“Thank God she understands. She never questions me. She knows what I’m doing,” he added.
The big eruption of Merapi reported early last Friday brought out over 100 million cubic meters of estimated volcanic materials that spread as far as Bandung, West Java.
The eruption is also reported to have created a crater measuring 125 by 400 meters on its peak, destroying four of the five seismometers used to monitor Merapi.
With only one seismometer left, it’s hard not to panic, but Surono has remained calm. His years of experience monitoring erupting volcanoes have taught him many things, including the importance of staying calm during emergency situations.
“It doesn’t matter. We have backup [seismometers]. All we needed to do is install them,” said Surono who started monitoring erupting volcanoes in West Java in 1982.
He started his career in the PVMBG’s volcano observation division, where he gained experience dealing with the eruptions of Mt. Colo in Central Sulawesi in 1983, Mt. Kelud in East Java in 2007, Mt. Sinabung in North Sumatra in 2010 and Mt. Merapi in 2006 and 2010.
“Of course I sometimes panicked. It’s very human,” said Surono, an alumnus of the Bandung Institute of Technology who obtained his masters and doctorate degree from the French University of Grenoble.
He said he panicked when he heard people had died during the Merapi eruptions. “I was very sad. How could people die, when we have so many years of experience dealing with dangerous eruptions, training and supervising?”
He felt he had failed to uphold his “zero victim” principle, which his office had been observing for years. It is true that his recommendation to evacuate people within a 10-kilometer radius from the peak saved tens of thousands of lives when the volcano first erupted.
His recommendation to clear the area within a 20-kilometer radius from the peak also saved hundreds of thousands of others during Friday’s eruption. Still, lives were lost.
“Mitigation is only considered successful when it succeeds in minimizing the number of victims. We have many victims here. This proves my failure in communicating the extent of the danger,” he said.
As of Wednesday, Merapi eruptions had claimed over 150 lives, mostly people from the Sleman regency, Yogyakarta. The eruptions have also affected residents in the three regencies of Magelang, Boyolali and Klaten in Central Java.
Despite the government’s policy to clear the area, residents have refused to evacuate while others have insisted on returning to the danger area to feed their livestock.
“We have to build better communication in the future. We are dealing with human beings here, not with technology, not with Surono,” he said.
“No matter how sophisticated the technology is, no matter how straight and right the analysis is, if the people do not respond right away, deaths cannot be avoided,” added Surono, or Mbah Rono as he is affectionately called among friends.
He said people started calling him Mbah Rono when he was handling the eruption of Mt. Kelud in East Java in 2007.
The title of Mbah (literally meaning grandfather) is usually given to so-called spiritual gatekeepers of volcanoes in Java Island like Mbah Maridjan, the local spiritual guardian of the Merapi volcano, who died in the Oct. 26 eruption.
“I feel honored [to have been nicknamed Mbah],” said Surono, the modern gatekeeper of volcanoes across Indonesia.
