Seven Indonesian airports, two of them in the capital, Jakarta, remained closed this Monday due to ash from the Anak Krakatau volcano, located on a volcanic island that rises, isolated, in the middle of the strait between the islands of Java and Sumatra, about 150 kilometers from the capital. The number of passengers affected by cancellations, diversions, and delays reaches 341,000, spread over 2,961 flights, confirmed to Reuters by the Minister of Infrastructure, Agus Harimurti Yudhoyono. The volcanic monitoring agency has warned that the likelihood of new eruptions remains high.
The alert continues although the Indonesian Geological Agency declared on Sunday the continuous eruption that started on Friday and lasted 25 hours to be over, according to Europa Press. Its director, Lana Saria, explained to the agency that the return of more moderate eruptions “is interpreted” as the end of that more intense episode, but not of the risk. The volcano continues with intermittent explosions and remains at Alert Level III, the stage indicating that a volcano could erupt in the short term, due to its high levels of seismicity.
The country’s main airport, Soekarno-Hatta, located in the city of Tangerang, on the outskirts of Jakarta, will remain closed until 11:59 p.m. local time on Monday, along with six others. The Minister of Transport, Dudy Purwagandhi, explained that the extension aims to allow time to clean runways and taxiways, and for airlines to reorganize their fleets. The ash columns have reached 6,000 meters in height on the Java side of the island and 15,000 on the Sumatra side, the latter well above the 9-12 kilometers at which commercial planes usually fly.
After that continuous eruption, activity calmed down during Sunday but picked up again at night, with a last eruptive episode recorded at 8:23 p.m., according to Reuters. Volcanologist Surono told this agency that the ash, loaded with sulfur and silica, can damage airplane engines and reduce visibility, worsened by the lack of rain.
Read more Marlaska insists that coordination with Morocco is «excellent» and reiterates his confidence
President Prabowo Subianto presided over a virtual meeting on the eruption this Monday, which adds to the August 15 earthquake — with more than 130 deaths in the east of the country — and the active forest fires. The leader has called for a “significant” increase in the disaster mitigation budget and warned: “This is our destiny, a country located in the Ring of Fire.”
Authorities have asked the population of Jakarta and Lampung to wear masks when going outside, and schools in both regions have switched to remote learning to protect students from the respiratory effects of the ash, according to Reuters. Anak Krakatau is one of about 130 active volcanoes in Indonesia, a country that sits on the Pacific Ring of Fire and records about 7,000 tremors a year.
Anak Krakatau — “child of Krakatau” — emerged a century ago from the crater left by the great 1883 eruption, which caused more than 36,000 deaths due to the tsunamis it triggered. The volcano itself experienced a partial collapse in December 2018 that generated another tsunami and caused 425 deaths. This time, there is no tsunami risk, according to the Indonesian Geological Agency.