- Title: “No warningâ€: Indonesian village caught off guard in volcano disaster
- Date: 10th December 2021
- Summary: LUMAJANG, EAST JAVA PROVINCE, INDONESIA (DECEMBER 8, 2021) (REUTERS) OBSERVER REPORTING MOUNT SEMERU ACTIVITY ON RADIO (SOUNDBITE) (Bahasa Indonesia) VOLCANOLOGIST, MIRZAM ABDURRACHMAN, SAYING: "When an early warning system is issued, it must be ensured that it can be received by the user and can be received by the community. If we look at the area around Semeru, not all areas are covered by the internet. This means that an early warning is made but not everyone can receive it. This needs to be corrected because even when the warning arrives, no one can understand what it means." MINAH HANGING UP LAUNDRY (SOUNDBITE) (Bahasa Indonesia) 35-YEAR-OLD EVACUEE, MINAH SAYING: "When I see my house, my heart is broken, broken. I can only surrender, but I'm also happy because my husband and children are still together. I ask the government to relocate me and the villagers of Curah Kobokan to a good place that is suitable for all residents. Any house is fine as long as we can live in it." MOUNT SEMERU MOUNT SEMERU SPEWING HOT VOLCANIC GAS FROM SUMMIT
- Embargoed: 24th December 2021 08:06
- Keywords: Indonesia eruption evacuation reaction villagers volcano warning system
- Location: JAKARTA, LUMAJANG, EAST JAVA PROVINCE, INDONESIA
- City: JAKARTA, LUMAJANG, EAST JAVA PROVINCE, INDONESIA
- Country: Indonesia
- Topics: Asia / Pacific,Disaster/Accidents,Earthquakes/Volcanoes/Tsunami
- Reuters ID: LVA003F7GDJK7
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: In the wake of the deadly Semeru eruption on Indonesia's Java island, aerial footage of roofs jutting out of an ashen landscape in the village of Curah Kobokan has come to symbolise the scale of the destruction and what many living in the shadow of the volcano feel went wrong.
"There was no warning. If there had been, there wouldn't have been victims, right?" Minah said on Tuesday (December 7) from an evacuation centre. Minah's cousin Rumini, died clutching her elderly mother as their kitchen roof caved in. Like many Indonesians, they use only one name.
Nestled at the base of volcano, Curah Kobokan village was among the worst-hit when Semeru spectacularly erupted on Saturday (December 4), ejecting ash clouds and pyroclastic flows that killed 43 people and left dozens missing.
The eruption of Java's tallest mountain has raised questions about the effectiveness of Indonesia's disaster warning system, and the dangers of rebuilding on the volcano's fertile but precarious slopes.
The head of Indonesia's disaster mitigation agency said early warnings were passed on to local resilience officers via social media but officials said there were no specific orders to evacuate. The head of Curah Kobokan could not be reached.
"If we look at the area around Semeru, not all areas are covered by the internet. This means that an early warning is made but not everyone can receive it," volcanologist Mirzam Abdurrachman told Reuters.
An archipelago of 270 million sitting atop the Pacific Ring of Fire, Indonesia is one of the most disaster-prone nations on earth. The devastation wreaked by Semeru can be ascribed to a deadly confluence of factors, for which no one wants to take the blame.
As disaster officials survey the devastation, some 100,000 homes damaged or destroyed, there is growing talk about the danger of living so close to the mountain, with Indonesian President Joko Widodo saying at least 2,000 homes will be moved.
"I ask the government to relocate me and the villagers of Curah Kobokan to a good place that is suitable for all residents. Any house is fine as long as we can live in it," Minah said.
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