Volcano eruption covers Java in ash
At least two people have died and over 100,000 others have fled their homes following a major volcanic eruption on the Indonesian island of Java that has disrupted air travel and shrouded swaths of the island in ash.
A huge blast
Mount Kelud, considered one of the most dangerous volcanoes on Java, Indonesia's most heavily populated island, spewed red-hot ash and rocks high into the air late Thursday night (February 13). The overnight eruption could be heard up to 200 kilometers (125 miles) away, according to the country's disaster agency. Residents were quoted describing the eruption as "thousands of bombs exploding."
A layer of ash
Just hours after the alert status was raised, the volcano blasted ash and sand 18 kilometers (12 miles) into the atmosphere. The debris fell to earth in towns and cities across the region, including Surabaya, Indonesia's second-largest city and a major industrial center, and even farther afield in Yogyakarta, about 300 kilometers away, where motorists switched on headlights in daylight.
Thousands flee
Authorities ordered the evacuation of some 200,000 families living within a 10 kilometer (6-mile) radius of Mount Kelud. While many found refuge in temporary shelters, others are reported to have tried to return to their homes to gather clothing and valuables. Two people were killed when the roofs of their homes collapsed under the weight of the fallen ash, the disaster agency said.
Limited damage
The country's disaster mitigation agency said the eruption had caused minimal damage to buildings, but had left 3 to 5 cm (1-1/2 to 2 inches) of ash and sand on roads. An agency spokesman said on Friday that debris was still raining down on villages within a radius of 15 kilometers from the volcano, but said that some activities were resuming "as normal".
Flights disrupted
The eruption disrupted air travel and thousands of passengers were left stranded as the airports of Surabaya, Bandung, Yogyakarta, Solo, Malang, Semarang were forced to close due to reduced visibility and the dangers posed to aircraft engines by ash. They were expected to reopen on Saturday, according to the transport ministry.
Living under the volcano
Due to the fertile volcanic soil and the shortage of space on Java, hundreds of thousands of people live close to active volcanoes. The last major eruption at Kelud, located in the province of East Java, was in 1990, when it sent out searing fumes and lava, killing more than 30 people and injured hundreds.
A 'Ring of Fire'
Mount Kelud is one of nearly 130 active volcanoes in Indonesia that sit on the Pacific "Ring of Fire," a series of fault lines stretching from the Western Hemisphere through Japan and Southeast Asia. Earlier this month, a volcano located on western island of Sumatra, Mount Sinabung (shown here), unleashed an enormous eruption that left at least 16 people dead.
The most active
In 2010, the country's most active volcano, Mount Merapi, erupted in the central province of Java, killing more than 350 people and leaving some 150,000 others displaced. The catastrophe is regarded as the deadliest in the country's recent history.
Unpredictable
Indonesia's Center for Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation said there was little chance of another eruption of Mount Kelud as powerful as Thursday night's, but tremors around the volcano could still be felt a day later. Scientists continuously monitor Indonesian volcanoes, but predicting their activity with any accuracy is an almost impossible task.