JAKARTA, Nov 5 — The Indonesian government aims to evacuate at least 16,000 residents from villages around the Mount Lewotobi Laki-laki volcano, whose eruption killed nine people and damaged thousands of houses, an official said today.
Mount Lewotobi Laki-laki, located on Flores Island in East Nusa Tenggara province, erupted on Sunday night, followed by a smaller eruption last night, and remains on Indonesia’s highest volcanic alert status.
Evacuations were being hampered by thick volcanic ash on some roads, an official said.
As of this morning, about 2,472 of the 16,086 residents from eight villages had been evacuated, East Flores regional government spokesman Heronimus Lamawuran told Reuters.
“We plan to temporarily evacuate the residents until it’s safe for them to return to their villages,” he said.
The residents were taken to three school buildings and temporary shelters at other villages around 20km from the crater, Heronimus added.
“We deployed more trucks along with military and police personnel to help evacuations on Tuesday,” he said.
Authorities have revised the death toll down to nine from 10, with 63 injured and about 2,384 houses and at least 25 schools damaged.
The local government has declared a state of emergency for the next 58 days, meaning the central government can provide aid to the residents. Four small airports in Flores Island have been closed due to the eruption.
Indonesia straddles the Pacific Ring of Fire, an area of high seismic activity where multiple tectonic plates meet.
— Reuters
