Mount Egon active again after Monday's calm, observer says
Mount Egon active again after Monday's calm, observer says
Yemris Fointuna, Kupang, East Nusa Tenggara
Mount Egon in East Nusa Tenggara province (NTT) has shown
increased signs of activity over the last two days, spewing out
sand, rock, fumes and sulfuric ash, an official said on
Wednesday.
An earth tremor lasting about one minute, followed by a huge
explosion, occurred on Tuesday night, after the volcano had
temporarily showed decreasing signs of activity on Monday, said
Yoseph Suryanto, a volcano monitor.
The volcano came to life again last Saturday and Sunday,
following an eruption in February of this year.
Despite the current increase in activity, the local
administration and volcano monitors have yet to issue an alert.
"The explosion this time was bigger and longer, around one minute
in duration. The noise, and some of the materials discharged by
the volcano, reached Maumere to the southwest of Mount Egon,"
Yoseph Suryanto told The Jakarta Post on Wednesday.
Mid-level gas pressures within the earth could have been the
cause of the heightened activity over the past two days, said
Suryanto. Residents have been urged not to panic as the situation
was not yet considered dangerous.
After the recent explosion, hundreds of residents from Egon
Gahar and Hale villages, who had previously opted to stay put,
finally decided to abandon their homes on Wednesday. The total
number of refugees amounted to more than 1,000, and they were
given accommodation in several school buildings and the community
hall in nearby Natakoli village, as well as the Bola district
office.
Sikka Health Office director Dr. Ignatius Henyo Kerong told
reporters in Kupang, the capital of East Nusa Tenggara, that the
level of sulfur emissions over the past two days had exceeded the
9.7 percent level, which could cause brain damage.
"The chance of lung infections is greater, however," he said.
More than five centimeters of sulfuric ash has descended on
areas around the volcano. Most trees are covered in ash and local
roads, previously full of potholes, have been rendered smooth by
the gray carpet.
Mount Egon is one of many Type B active volcanoes in
Indonesia. Its crater is 525 meters X 425 meters in diameter, and
has a depth of between 47.5 meters and 195 meters. It stands
1,701 meters above sea level.