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Dompu, West
Nusa Tenggara. Provincial authorities raised the alert level of Mount Tambora
to the second-highest available as observers noted an increase of volcanic
activity in the volatile mountain.
“On August
30, we recorded seven volcanic earthquakes and since Sept. 8 the frequency of
the quakes rose substantially, to between 12 and 16 per day,” Husnuddin, head
of the West Nusa Tenggara Disaster Mitigation Agency (BPBD), told the Jakarta
Globe on Sunday.
The BPBD
chief said a team of observers had been immediately deployed to Mount Tambora.
The
volcano, which was the site of the world’s deadliest eruption on record, showed
no apparent visual signs of any upcoming eruption, but data collected on
mechanical instruments gave cause for concern.
“We still
hope Mount Tambora’s alert level will not increase further. We hope we can
lower the status of the volcano. Let us all pray everything will return to
normal,” Husnuddin said.
Abdul Haris
from the Mount Tambora observatory station said the heightened alert status
meant an eight-kilometer exclusion zone was being imposed.
“We fear
there will be toxic gas as a direct result of the increased activity,” he said.
Husnuddin
said the BPBD swiftly met with leaders of the three districts surrounding the
volcano — Dompu, Bima and Sumbawa.
The agency
also held talks with the leadership of Pekat and Tambora, two Dompu
subdistricts near Tambora’s crater, to discuss possible evacuation plans if the
alert status reaches the highest level. The agency also had identified
locations for possible shelters to house people living around the volcano.
There are
four villages in the two subdistricts that are about eight kilometers from the
crater.
The BPBD
requested several organizations be on stand-by, including the National Disaster
Mitigation Agency (BNPB), the National Search and Rescue Agency (Basarnas) and
the country’s Armed Forces, which have already deployed officials to several
response stations in the two subdistricts.
Two main
evacuation routes for people in the four villages have also been identified.
The
volcano’s April 10, 1815, eruption killed more than 90,000 people, including
some who died from famine and disease in the aftermath of the event. It is
estimated to have had a Volcanic Explosivity Index value of seven, the only
such explosion since the Hatepe eruption in New Zealand in the year 180, and
only the fifth in human history.
Classified
as a “supercolossal event,” Tambora’s 1815 eruption ejected immense amounts of
volcanic dust into the upper atmosphere, significantly impacting the global
climate for many years afterward. In Indonesia, the volcano’s roar could be
heard more than 800 miles away.
Meanwhile,
in North Sulawesi, Mount Lokon continued to be a concern, two months after it
first erupted. Ferry, an observer at the Lokon volcano observation station said
that from midnight to 6 a.m. on Sunday, Lokon erupted seven times, sending
debris up to 350 meters from the edge of the crater.
The
observation post also recorded one tectonic quake and two volcanic quakes on
Sunday morning. On Saturday, observers recorded more than 20 volcanic
quakes.
“The
activity of Mount Lokon is still not yet back to normal,” Ferry said, adding
that people there were still being warned against returning home.
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