November 20, 2011
Magelang, Central Java. Residents and administrators of Central Java and Yogyakarta are determined not to be caught flat-footed as the threat of Mount Merapi’s volcanic mud flows intensifies with monsoon rains.
The mud, generated when rain mixes with the tens of millions of tons of volcanic ash still blanketing Merapi’s slopes after its 2010 eruption, is on the move in the districts of Magelang, Central Java, and Sleman in Yogyakarta. The border between the provinces passes through Merapi’s peak.
Rains on Sunday caused the volcanic mud, known as “cold lava” or lahar dingin, to flood down a number of high-altitude watercourses on the mountain’s slopes.
“A rainstorm around the peak began at 1:05 p.m., but at this stage it has shifted further down the slopes,” Yulianto, a staffer at the Babadan Merapi Monitoring Station in Magelang, said on Sunday.
He said the 36 millimeters of rain that fell at Merapi’s peak was causing the lahar to flow through a number of waterways including the Senowo, Apu, and Putih rivers. Eyewitnesses such as Susanto, a resident of Mangunsoko village on the banks of the Senowo River, said he and his neighbors were afraid to cross the river for fear of being swept away by the lahar .
“Now the rain has slowed, but it was heavy earlier, and it is bringing [volcanic] material down via the Senowo River,” he said.
Further down Merapi’s slopes but still in Magelang district, two trucks used by sand miners were swept away by the mudflow, with one later discovered destroyed about six kilometers downstream.
The two trucks, driven by Dulrahman and Iwan Yusuf Ahmadi, were being filled with sand alongside the Putih River at Jurang Jero, Srumbung, on Sunday afternoon when they were hit by a torrent of lahar.
One truck was carried about 150 meters but was left undamaged, while the other was eventually located behind the Srumbung mosque, with its cabin and engine compartment badly damaged and the rear tray missing.
Pandu, a volunteer who helped in the search for the missing truck, said the drivers were lucky to escape with their lives. He said the sand miners had been warned to quickly leave the mining area alongside the river, but that the truck’s tires were spinning on the rain-soaked path.
“There was no one killed in the incident because the driver and other workers who were trying to push the bogged truck out managed to run to safety just as the flood of mud arrived,” the volunteer said.
In anticipation of the need to carry out evacuations, National Search and Rescue Agency (Basarnas) officials in Klaten, Central Java, said they had 260 rescuers on standby for the monsoon season. Coordinator Pandu Wirabangsa said on Sunday that his team included 60 people trained in emergency response.
“As many as 200 others are standby rescuers who come from a variety of community bodies” he said. “We’ve been ready since September, before the start of the rainy season.”
His Yogyakarta counterpart, Hardiyatmoko, said his agency had been conducting emergency simulations to train residents on responding to mudflows.
(as read in the JG)
zo 20 nov 2011 - 16:49