Lahar destroys farmlands

Lahar destroys farmlands

Slamet Susanto, The Jakarta Post, Yogyakarta | Wed, 01/05/2011

Thousands were forced to flee their homes as lahar from the slopes of Mount Merapi inundated hundreds of houses and destroyed hundreds of hectares of agriculture fields in Magelang, Central Java, and Sleman, Yogyakarta, on Monday evening.

Heavy downpours since the afternoon in the regions sent thick layers of volcanic debris down the slope of Merapi, carrying logs and volcanic rocks of up to 2 meters in diameter, destroying everything they hit along the way.

In Cangkringan district, Sleman, lahar destroyed at least two bridges and four houses. Thousands from a number of villages along the banks of Opak River were forced to flee over fears the flood would inundate their houses.

“Heavy downpours always worry us. We always flee home when it happens,” said Murni of Panggung village, Argomulyo subdistrict, Cangkringan.

Cangkringan district head Samsul Bakri said his administration had routinely supervised the people, communicating the importance of staying alert to nature. “They are capable of voluntarily evacuating themselves in times of danger,” he said.

The administration, he added, had also been normalizing the stream along the river and deployed heavy equipment at the locations in case they were needed.

“We call on the people to stay alert to the threat of lahar especially those living along the banks of Opak and Gendol rivers,” Syamsul said.

The flood Monday evening also covered the Cangkringan Police filling it with sand up to 2 meters deep, destroying most police documents.

“It’s impossible for us to use the office. We are looking for a place to relocate,” Sleman Police chief Irwan Ramaini said Tuesday.

He added that his personnel temporarily shared a room at the district administration office while waiting for a more permanent office to work from. He also said they were ready to be deployed.

The lahar paralyzed the Magelang-Yogyakarta route in Muntilan, Central Java, as volcanic debris flowing through Putih River overflowed on to the road for some 500 meters, covered it with the materials up to more than 2 meters deep.

Two excavators were deployed to help normalize the highway.

However, due to the thick layers of volcanic materials, they had not yet been able to completely clear them from the road as of Tuesday afternoon.

Vehicles from Semarang, Central Java, heading to Yogyakarta and vice versa were redirected to travel through Purworejo or Boyolali in Central Java.

“Due to lahar we have to pass through Boyolali,” a conductor of a bus serving the Lebak Bulus (Jakarta)–Yogyakarta–Klaten route announced.

“We should have arrived in Yogyakarta by 3 p.m. but will only arrive at 5 p.m.,” Agus, a passenger, said.

In Magelang, lahar hit three villages along the banks of Putih River, inundating hundreds of houses.

Lahar will continue to threaten areas along the banks of the 12 rivers originating at Merapi as those rivers are still filled with thick layers of volcanic materials of up to 17 kilometers down their streams, ready to travel as heavy rain pours over the region.

(So what about a happy New Year for those poor sloggers too? Kesas' musings))

Mt Merapi lava flows cover village roads
Monday, January 10, 2011

Magelang, C Java (ANTARA News)

Mount Merapi`s cold lava floods that have been occurring since Sunday evening have turned roads in Sirahan village, Salam subdistrict, Magelang district, Central Java, into "mud rivers."

This condition has been caused by the overflowing of the Putih river in Sirahan village after it was no longer able to absorb Mount Merapi volcanic materials.

As a result, the volcanic materials flowed over into access roads linking Sirahan village and other villages in Muntilan subdistrict.

At least 10 four-wheel vehicles, including three trucks, got stuck in the volcano`s cold lava materials overflowing into the roads.

Four excavators had been sent to the disaster area to clean up the access roads but only one was operable as the three others were broken and blanketed by Mount Merapi` volcanic materials.

According to Sirahan village administrator, Wartono, the cold lava floods had inundated a number of hamlets in Sirahan village, such as Salakan, Jetis, Glagah, Sirahan, Gemampang, Gebayan, Tempelan, and Trayembendo.

Several hundred houses were hit by Mount Merapi cold lava floods which also carried rocks and sand, he said.

Seven of the ill-fated houses were totally destroyed. As a result, their owners - Budi Sunaryo, Supeni, Harjo Sugi, Harjo Samini, Waluyo, Tri Cahyo, and Tomi - had became homeless.

The cold lava floods also carried aaway a school building and damaged a community health center and Sirahan village`s convention hall, he said.

In Jumoyo village, 128 houses in two hamlets were also destroyed or damaged by the floods, he said.

In response to this emergency situation, the Indonesian Red Cross (PMI) had deployed 20 rescue workers to evacuate the victims of Mount Merapi cold lava floods.

"The overflowing of the Putih and Pabelan rivers has brought mud and Mount Merapivolcanic materials into certain parts of Magelang district," PMI spokesman Arief Setyohadi said.

Mount Merapi had erupted repeatedly in the past two or three weeks but its most fatal eruptions occurred on October 26 and November 5, 2010.

As a result of the eruptions, at least 259 people had perished and many others sustained serious burns and became displaced.

Mount Merapi, on the border between two provinces, lies geographically close to Yogyakarta but is officially part of Central Java.

Besides killing and injuring several hundred people, eruptions had also damaged 867 hectares of forested land on the volcano`s slopes in Sleman District, Yogyakarta, with material losses estimated at Rp33 billion.

Mount Merapi is one of the most active volcanoes in Indonesia, whose eruptions have regularly been detected since 1548. (*)

Lahar Flow Disrupts Magelang’s Economic Livelihood
Candra Malik | January 17, 2011


Magelang. Massive amounts of volcanic mud, or lahar, rushed down and cut off the Tlatar bridge on the Pabelan River during the weekend, isolating more than 50,000 residents across 15 villages in Sawangan.

The bridge connected the subdistricts of Sawangan and Dukun. It serves as the main access to an agribusiness subterminal for agricultural goods transported from the slopes of Mount Merapi and Mount Merbabu.

Djanu Trepsilo, a spokesman for the Magelang administration, said on Sunday that the district had been completely paralyzed because of the lahar floods, which also caused power outages in most areas.

“At least 10 bridges have been destroyed by lahar since January 4. Two had been primary bridges connecting subdistricts, while the other eight connected villages. This is outside of the Gempol primary bridge on the Putih River, which once again was cut off on Saturday night,” he said.

Djanu added that economic activities in the two largest traditional markets in Magelang — Muntilan and Jumoyo — have also stopped.

“Most farm fields have been swamped by lahar. Crops, rice and vegetables haven’t been harvested. Fish ponds were also damaged,” he said.

“More than 4,000 people have been displaced, while thousands suffered huge losses due to devastated trading activities.”

Sujarwo, head of the Sawangan administration, said the Tlatar bridge was the fifth bridge on the Pabelan River to collapse.

Meanwhile, Heri Prawoto, head of the Magelang Disaster Mitigation Office, said no casualties had been reported so far. Heri added that people could travel on the highway as of Sunday afternoon after officers dredged the mud for 10 hours.

Pusposadoro Ganis, a resident of Sirahan village, Salam subdistrict, said he suffered Rp 50 million ($5,550) in losses after his cellular store was buried in lahar. “I do not know how business will continue here,” he said.

Djaka Sriyana, a professor of economics at the Indonesian Islamic University in Yogyakarta, said the flow of goods and distribution of agricultural produce from Temanggung, Wonosobo, and Boyolali to Magelang and Yogyakarta had been hampered by the mud flow. “I’m afraid the situation has worsened the condition of price hikes of basic commodities,” he said.

(This x the Globe)