Indonesia needs more volcanologists
YOGYAKARTA (JP): Indonesia needs more volcanologists to help monitor the 129 active volcanoes that straddle the archipelago, an official of the Ministry of Mines and Energy said yesterday.
Indonesia currently has 104 experts in the field, 14 of whom hold doctorates, 30 with masters degrees and 60 with undergraduate degrees.
"In other countries, there are at least eight experts to a volcano," said Wimpy Tjetjep, the Director of Volcanology at the Ministry's Directorate General of Geology and Mineral Resources. "In our case, we have no choice but to handle several volcanoes at once."
Hundreds of experts in France monitor Mt. Etna, he told reporters during a workshop reviewing the 10 years of cooperation between French and Indonesian volcanologists.
Most of the volcanology cooperation programs are centered around Mt. Merapi, which is one of the world's most active volcanoes. Merapi's last explosion in 1994 claimed 66 lives.
The cooperation programs have also led to an increase in the number of local scientists and the capability of the existing ones, Wimpy said.
Indonesian and French volcanologists have been experimenting with new methods of detecting volcanic activity, he said.
The Director General of Geology and Mineral Resources, Adjat Sudradjat, told the workshop that a satellite detection system developed under Franco-Indonesia cooperation was successful in alerting three million residents around Mt. Kelud, Central Java, which erupted in 1989. No direct casualties were recorded.
"The cooperation with France stresses innovations in monitoring methods," said Wimpy. "Our scientists only know theories, but we have not had the equipment to apply them."
In addition to France, Indonesia also has volcano cooperation programs with Japan, the United States and several other countries, Wimpy said.
Among the new techniques being explored are deformation and geochemical surveys, which monitor the changes in volcano surfaces caused by volcanic activities, and interferometry, which measures ground distortions by satellite.
Apart from Merapi, the new methods have also been tested on Mt. Kelud in East Java, and volcanoes in Halmahera, Maluku and Marapi, West Sumatra.
The cooperation programs also benefit France in its study of active volcanoes.
One of the French speakers, Jean-Christophe Sabroux, said French experts only realized that they needed to study active volcanoes after France's Soufriere volcano erupted in 1976. Previously they mainly monitored dormant volcanoes, he said.
"Indonesia could provide our scientists with access to some of the most dangerous volcanoes in the world," said Sabroux. (anr)