Indonesia’s Laki-Laki erupts eight times as gov’t eyes permanent relocation

The government has considered making permanent relocation arrangements for residents of nearby Mount Lewotobi Laki-Laki, which has erupted eight times, causing a massive column of ash.

There were no immediate reports of casualties from Thursday’s eruptions, the ash plume rising 2, 500 metres (8, 200 feet) from its peak, but residents on the tourist island of Flores were seen fleeing in panic.

Officials raised the alert for the 1, 703-metre (5, 587-foot) twin-peaked volcano to the highest level.

At least 5, 816 of the more than 16, 000 people living in areas near the volcano had been evacuated to other villages, said Heronimus Lamawuran, a spokesperson for the Flores regional government.

The country’s Center for Volcanology and Disaster Mitigation said a mixture of rock, lava and gas was also thrown up to 1km (0.6 miles) from its crater.

The volcano erupted on Monday and Tuesday, killing at least 10 people and forcing the relocation of residents from a 7km (4.3-mile) exclusion zone.

The largest eruption in Lewolaga village, according to 41-year-old Anastasia Adriyani, occurred on Thursday, according to Adriyani, who lives outside the exclusion zone.

“I was cooking at the community kitchen]for evacuees] when it happened. I ran back home. I was very scared”.

According to the AFP news agency, residents fled their homes in nearby villages as a result of the new eruptions, with volcanic lightning also visible.

The government planned to evacuate the remaining 16, 000 residents from the risk zone, according to National Agency for Disaster Countermeasure (BNPB) chief Suharyanto, who uses a single name among Indonesians.

After visiting the devasted areas on Thursday, Suharyanto declared to reporters that “permanent relocation is regarded as a long-term mitigation measure to anticipate eruption in the future.”

Laki-Laki, which means “man” in Indonesian, is twinned with a calmer volcano named after the Indonesian word for “woman”.

Lewotobi Laki-Laki is one of the 120 active volcanoes in Indonesia, an archipelago of 280 million people.

Due to its position on the “Ring of Fire” in the Pacific, Indonesia frequently experiences seismic and volcanic activity.