FLORES ISLAND (UCAN): Church groups on the Catholic-majority island of Flores, Indonesia, have rushed to help villagers who fled their homes after the Mount Lewotobi Laki-laki volcano erupted on New Year’s day.
Around 2,400 people from six villages in East Flores Regency were evacuated to 11 temporary shelters following the powerful eruption of the morning of January, according to government sources.
Bishop Fransiskus Kopong Kung of Diocese of Larantuka, asked Caritas to “respond to the situation as soon as possible,” said Marianus Dewantoro, the agency’s coordinator.
“We assisted them by providing some 150 mats, 1,100 masks, 30 doses of mineral water, and 30 pieces of chicken eggs” by January 3, Dewantoro said, adding that more assistance would be extended in the next few days.
Welan said the eruption spewed volcanic ash across a six-kilometre area resulting in poor visibility. “The maximum visibility is only about 400 metres,” he said adding that houses, plants and trees were covered in white ash and smelled of sulfur.
Welan said the displaced people needed food, clean water and storage tanks. They also needed cooking utensils, firewood, masks, sleeping equipment, sanitary napkins, tarpaulins and food for babies and toddlers.
Ursula Tewo Watu, a resident of Boru Baru village, said she had finished dinner on New Year’s Eve when suddenly she heard a roar from the direction of the mountain.
“At first I thought it was firecrackers, but the sound got stronger and soon we heard people shouting, ‘The volcano is erupting’,” she recounted.
The 56-year-old said she took refuge in the yard of the Wulanggitang Subdistrict office, about five kilometres from the mountain crater.
Veronika Kese Boruk and her husband who resided in nearby Dulipali village also left their home that night.
“We have no clothes other than those in which we fled,” she said.
The couple lived at the foot of the mountain and said, “We could’ve died if we hadn’t fled in time.”
Five eruptions have been recorded at Mount Lewotobi Laki-laki since the seismic activity at the volcano increased on 12 December 2023. Hendra Gunawan, head of the Centre for Volcanology and Geological Disaster Mitigation, set an alert on January 1 warning against a large eruption within the next two weeks.
Gunawan urged people to keep away from the centre of the eruption, prohibiting activities up to a radius of four kilometres northwest-north and south-southeast.
With a height of 1,584 metres, Mount Lewotobi Laki-laki, adjacent to Lewotobi Perempuan, is part of a group of volcanoes that extends across the Flores mainland. It last erupted in 1935.
Flores is part of the Pacific Ring of Fire, where the meeting of continental plates causes high volcanic and seismic activity.
The Indonesian archipelago has nearly 130 active volcanoes.
