Volcano eruption in eastern Indonesia leaves 10 dead – Diario La Página –

At least ten people died after a volcano in eastern Indonesia erupted several times, emergency teams reported Monday.

According to the latest update from the Regional Disaster Management Agency (BPBD, in Indonesian), troops have recovered the bodies of nine of the victims, while one body is still missing.

In a first report, the agency specified that nine of the deceased were residents of the Klantanlo village, near the volcano.

Mount Lewotobi Laki-Laki, on the popular tourist island of Flores, sent a column of ash and lava onto local villages, which were forced to evacuate.

This first eruption occurred minutes before midnight on Sunday and lasted about 25 minutes, the Center for Volcanology and Geological Disaster Mitigation (PVMBG) said in a statement.

Exclusion area
As a result of the eruption, which was followed by two others, the authorities raised the state of alert in the area to level 4 (the maximum) and asked residents and tourists not to carry out activities within a radius of seven kilometers around the crater of the volcano, 1,584 meters high.

In addition, the population was asked to wear masks to avoid the effects of volcanic ash and warned about the risk of floods occurring in the area due to the rainfall recorded around the volcano.

Seven towns, with a combined population of more than 10,000 inhabitants, are within this exclusion area, according to official data. A blanket of ash covers several villages, where you can see damage to several buildings, some of which have been burned.

Pacific Ring of Fire
In December 2023, Indonesia experienced the tragic eruption of the Merapi volcano on the island of Sumatra, which claimed the lives of 23 people. In May, another Merapi eruption left 60 dead after heavy rain washed volcanic material into residential areas there.

Indonesia is home to more than 400 volcanoes, of which at least 129 remain active and 65 are classified as dangerous. The archipelago sits within the so-called Pacific Ring of Fire, an area of ​​great seismic and volcanic activity that is shaken by about 7,000 earthquakes a year, most of them of small magnitude.