T

he name Dr. Surono always comes up in a lot of conversations about volcanoes in Indonesia. The 58-year-old, who is head of the Geological Disaster Mitigation and Volcanology Center (PVMBG), has been a source for information on volcano eruptions in the country for years.

After all these years of providing fruitful recommendations to public and other institutions, Surono will soon end his term in office this year.

The man, who is often called Mbah Rono, said that he had actually tendered his resignation last year, precisely at the age of 57 on July 8, but he was rejected.

'€œI have to step back. And my successors should be those who really understand Geological Disaster Mitigation and Volcanology issues. This institution must keep running without me,'€ he said.

He said that he had proposed five names to Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Jero Wacik as his prospective replacements.

'€œI have recommended my replacements from the internal circle,'€ said Surono, who graduated from the Bandung Institute of Technology and obtained his masters and doctorate degree from the French University of Grenoble.

Surono, known for speaking bluntly, began his career in the field of volcanology after rejecting an offer as a lecturer at the Bandung Institute of Technology. After doing fieldwork on Mount Galunggung, Tasikmalaya, West Java, which last erupted in 1982, Surono chose to dedicate himself in the field of
volcanology.

His career began in the PVMBG'€™s volcano observation division, where he gained experience handling 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.

'€œIt seems that being soaked in rain and ash befits me,'€ said the father of two.

He said people started calling him Mbah Rono when he was dealing with 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 Mt. Merapi, who died in the 2010 eruption. '€œI feel honored [to have been nicknamed Mbah],'€ Surono once said.

Surono said he depended on intuition compared to feeling when issuing the right recommendation regarding volcanology and geological disaster mitigation. According to him, intuition can be acquired if he has adequate and complete scientific data.

'€œI don'€™t foresee, much less predict,'€ said Surono, who is known to be friendly with journalists.

During his tenure. Surono claimed he always felt failure, such as when he was unable to persuade Mbah Maridjan to come out of the danger zone during the eruption in 2010.

The latest failure, which he terribly regretted, was the collapse of the Way Ela Dam in Central Maluku regency, Maluku, on July 25.

The broken dam caused a seven-meter flood, injured dozens of residents and displaced more than 5,200 people. The disaster also swiped hundreds of houses and many other public facilities.

Surono said after his team conducted a field analysis following soil movement in July 13, 2012, his team predicted a flash flood could happen because landslide materials had formed a natural dam downstream.

'€œBut then the recommendation was not heeded so the flash flood took place and claimed lives,'€ he said.

Then, what will Surono do after retiring from the PVMBG? He said that he wished to become an entrepreneur as a cattle breeder. But knowing his love for volcanology, it would not be a big surprise if he would still be around in the area that has risen his name.