Too close for comfort: A woman hanging her laundry to dry as Mount Merapi spews volcanic ash from its crater in Agam, West Sumatra. — AP
THE country’s volcanology agency had warned since 2011 that it was unsafe to climb the country’s active Merapi volcano, the organisation’s chief said, days after the peak erupted and killed 13 climbers, with 10 still missing.The 2,891m-high volcano in West Sumatra erupted on Sunday, spewing grey clouds of ash as high as 3km into the sky.
Search operations for 10 missing climbers were under way, local authorities said, with about 200 local rescuers involved.
For more than a decade, Indonesia’s volcanology agency had sent monthly letters warning the environment ministry and local conservation agency that climbers should keep a safe distance from the volcano’s peak, said agency head Hendra Gunawan yesterday.
“The recommendation was to not climb up to the peak, that no one should go within 3km of the crater,” he said.
Officials from the volcanology body said that it could only issue safety warnings, and that it was up to the environment ministry and local authorities to enforce them.
The environment ministry did not immediately respond to questions from Reuters.
The conservation agency, which is under the ministry, said permits to climb were given after getting the green light from several local agencies, including the West Sumatra provincial government and national disaster agency, as well the Padang search and rescue agency.
The search and rescue agency declined to comment.
The national disaster agency also did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
West Sumatra’s provincial government was not immediately reachable for comment either.
The volcano erupted several times in January and February 2023, but its relatively infrequent eruptions during the past decade have made it difficult to analyse, said Ahmad Basuki of the volcanology agency.
“Because we cannot record any seismic activity, the volcano gives no clear sign if it is going to erupt,” he said.
“The character of this volcano is dangerous.”
Rescuers said there were 75 climbers on the volcano when it erupted.
Yesterday, rescuers searching the hazardous slopes of the volcano found more bodies, raising the number of confirmed and presumed dead to 23.
The latest bodies were found not too far from the eruption site, estimated to be only a few metres away, said Edi Mardianto, the deputy police chief in West Sumatra province.
The bodies of five climbers have been recovered, and 18 are presumed dead because they were so close to the eruption of hot gases and ash.
“The rest we want to evacuate are 18 and we expect they are no longer alive.
“The team will evacuate and take them to the hospital tomorrow or today to be identified,” Mardianto said yesterday.
The rescuers are contending with bad weather and terrain constraints, as the scouring wind brings heat from the eruptions.
A video released by West Sumatra’s Search and Rescue Agency showed rescuers evacuating an injured climber on a stretcher off the mountain and into a waiting ambulance to be taken to hospital.
Merapi has stayed at the third highest of four alert levels since 2011, a level indicating above-normal volcanic activity, prohibiting climbers and villagers within 3km of the peak, according to Indonesia’s Centre for Volcanology and Geological Disaster Mitigation.
Climbers were only allowed below the danger zone, and they had to register at two command posts or online.
However, local officials acknowledged many people may have climbed higher than permitted and residents also could have been in the area, making the number of people stranded by the eruption impossible to confirm. — Reuters/AP
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