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Hundreds flee ahead of possible Merapi eruption
The evacuation is prioritizing vulnerable groups, namely the elderly, children, pregnant women and sick people, out of more than 500 potential evacuees living in nine hamlets closest to the top of Mount Merapi.
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uthorities have started evacuating hundreds of residents living from disaster-prone areas around Mount Merapi in Magelang, Central Java, following the warning of a potential eruption of the volcano in the near future.
The Magelang administration, with the help of the Indonesian Military, the National Police, disaster mitigation agencies and a group of volunteers, began transporting the residents with private cars, pick-up cars, minibuses and ambulances on Friday.
“Residents are being evacuated to designated ‘sister’ villages starting today,” the Magelang administration’s government and public welfare assistant, Nanda Cahyadi Pribadi, said on Friday as quoted by kompas.com.
The evacuation is prioritizing vulnerable groups, namely the elderly, children, pregnant women and sick people, out of more than 500 potential evacuees living in nine hamlets closest to the top of Mt. Merapi.
The residents include 153 people from Paten village, 160 people from Krinjing village and 130 people from Ngargomulyo village, who are being transported to Banyurojo, Mertoyudan and Tamanagung village.
“This is only temporary data; the numbers could increase any time depending on the conditions,” Nanda said, ensuring that the entire evacuation process followed strict COVID-19 health protocols.
Sleman Disaster Mitigation Agency (BPBD) mitigation section head Joko Lelono said his agency had prepared a shelter for the evacuation of vulnerable people and livestock, in accordance with the Merapi Contingency Plan.
“Three hamlets that might be affected are Kalitengah Lor, Kaliadem and Pelemsari. For a long time, Kaliadem has had no residents, only livestock, so it is safe to conduct the evacuation later,” Joko said on Thursday.
Pelemsari has two families that will move to their other permanent residence, while Kalitengah Lor has 160 vulnerable people, some of whom are moving to the Gayam shelter and the others to relatives’ houses. All evacuees will receive logistical assistance. Joko said the evacuation was set to start on Friday after his agency readied the evacuation barracks.
The Geological Disaster Technology Research and Development Center (BPPTKG) increased the alert status for Mt. Merapi on Thursday, predicting the volcanic activity might soon lead to an eruption.
The BPPTKG predicted that volcanic material and hot ash clouds could spew as far as 5 kilometers. Besides Magelang and Sleman, the center said the eruption might also reach Boyolali and Klaten regencies in Central Java.
BPPTKG Yogyakarta head Hanik Humaida said earlier that Mt. Merapi may experience an effusive eruption, meaning melting incandescent lava would steadily flow down the slopes of the volcano. However, she also said it was possible for an explosive eruption to occur, in which the magma extrusion process would happen rapidly.
“It’s just that if does turn out to be an explosive eruption, it would not be as strong as the 2010 eruption. But whether it is effusive or explosive, the eruption of Merapi must be anticipated,” Hanik said in a webinar on Wednesday as quoted by tempo.co.
The BPPTKG has improved its broadcasting system, which will be launched soon for all people living in KRB III, especially the heads of hamlets.
“When there is a development in [volcanic] activity, [the hamlet heads] will get the information directly from the BPPTKG,” she said.
