Indonesia’s Lewotobi Laki Laki mountain erupts for the second time in a week

MAUMERE, Indonesia — Indonesia’s mountain Lewotobi Laki Laki sent towering columns of ash into the sky Thursday, in an even bigger eruption than the one that killed nine people and injured dozens of others three days ago.

There were no reports of casualties from the latest eruption as residents living in the danger zone in a 7km radius around the crater had been evacuated to other villages, said Kensius Didimus, an official with the local disaster agency.

The 6,000-foot volcano on the remote island of Flores shot out billowing columns of ash 11 times Thursday, with the last and largest rising 26,240 feet, said Hadi Wijaya, head of the Center for Volcanology and Geological Disaster Management.

The volcano has shown less activity since Monday’s deadly eruption, which killed nine people and injured 64 others.

Monday’s eruption affected more than 10,000 people in 10 villages. Nearly 6,000 villagers moved into makeshift emergency shelters after the eruption, which destroyed seven schools, nearly 20 homes and a monastery on the predominantly Catholic island.

Volcanic materials including smoldering rocks, lava and hot, thumb-sized fragments of gravel and ash were thrown up to 7 kilometers from the crater on Monday.

While visiting the devastated areas, officials found craters in several places where rocks fell during eruptions, up to 13 meters wide and 16 meters deep, including a destroyed school.

“It shows a difference in characteristics compared to the previous eruption in January,” said Wijaya, head of the volcanology center. He added that the earlier eruption released mostly volcanic material around the summit, followed by lava flows.

“We are still analyzing the change in Lewotobi’s eruption character, which will be used by the government to determine a safe relocation location for residents,” Wijaya said.

He said his office has asked the local government of East Nusa Tenggara province to close the only road connecting Maumere, the island’s largest city, to neighboring Larantuka district as it passes through the volcano’s danger zone.

The country’s volcano monitoring agency raised the alert status of Lewotobi Laki Laki to the highest level and more than doubled the exclusion zone to a 7-mile radius on Monday, banning any activity in that area.

Authorities warned the thousands of people who fled not to return home as the government planned to move about 16,000 residents out of harm’s way, said Suharyanto, head of the National Disaster Management Agency, who like many Indonesians goes by a single name used.

“Permanent relocation is considered a long-term mitigation measure to anticipate eruptions in the future,” Suharyanto told reporters on Thursday after visiting the devastated areas.

He said residents of the worst-affected villages will be relocated within the next six months, and each family waiting for a new home will receive compensation of $32 per month.

About 6,500 people were evacuated in January after Mount Lewotobi Laki Laki began erupting, creating thick clouds and forcing the government to close the island’s Fransiskus Xaverius Seda airport. No casualties or major damage have been reported, but the airport has remained closed due to seismic activity.

Lewotobi Laki Laki is one of a pair of stratovolcanoes in the East Flores district of East Nusa Tenggara province, known locally as the Man and Woman Mountains. ‘Laki laki’ means man, while his partner is Lewotobi Perempuan, or woman.

The volcanology center also said that another volcano, Mount Marapi in West Sumatra province – one of the country’s most active volcanoes – erupted again on Thursday, spewing thick columns of ash at least three times and covering nearby villages with rubble. No casualties have been reported.

Lewotobi Laki Laki is one of 120 active volcanoes in Indonesia, an archipelago with 280 million inhabitants. The country is prone to earthquakes, landslides and volcanic activity because it lies along the ‘Ring of Fire’, a horseshoe-shaped series of seismic fault lines around the Pacific Ocean.

Karmini reported from Jakarta. Associated Press journalists Edna Tarigan and Andi Jatmiko contributed to this report.