Mt. Papandayan dangerous: Officials

Mt. Papandayan dangerous: Officials

Budianto, The Jakarta Post, Garut, West Java

Relevant authorities warned on Friday that activity at Mt.
Papandayan, which experienced a major explosion early on Friday,
has reached alarming levels, forcing thousands of people living
within a radius of four kilometers (km) from its peak to flee.

Mas Atje Purbawinata, a volcanologist from the directorate
general for volcanology affairs and mitigation at Bandung, West
Java, declared here on Friday that the volcano's status was
raised to that of dangerous due to an increase in its activities
after a major eruption at 6:33 a.m. on Friday.

"According to our monitoring and seismographic records, the
volcano, after its major eruption early this morning (Friday),
has shown increasing activity by continually spewing hot ash and
thick smoke to a height of 6,000 meters.

"Consequently, everyone living within a radius of four km of
the volcano's crater must flee to prevent them from being covered
in hot ash and from breathing possible noxious gases," he told
The Jakarta Post at a monitoring site.

Purbawinata added that besides, the mountain could trigger hot
or cold mudflows if it continued raining above the crater,
endangering villages located on the banks of several rivers
flowing down the slopes of the volcano.

"The volcano poses two serious threats to local people -- hot
ash and mudflows.

Garut regent Dede Satibi said the local administration had
evacuated the villages of Cibiung, Pangauban, Dungus, Cipelah,
Cibeureum, Naringgul and Cipaniisan, and more than 2,000
villagers were taking shelter in makeshift accommodation,
mosques, school buildings and the premises of the local military.

"So far, there have been no problems for the refugees, while
humanitarian relief has continued flowing in from various
quarters, including the central and provincial governments and
private companies," he said.

Many villagers have stayed at home due to fresh fears of
looting, while observing the volcano's activities.

Udin, a resident of Cibiung village, said he had taken his
wife and two children to a refuge camp in Cisurupan and then
returned home to keep watch on their belongings.

Purbawinata said his office had established contact with air
transportation authorities, both at home and in Australia, in
order to give them an early warning of possible disruption to
flight paths.

"Thick smoke spewing out of the volcano could endanger
airliners using the airspace in its vicinity," he said.

Wimpy S. Tjetjep, another expert from the directorate general
of volcanology affairs and mitigation, said the volcano had
spewed out more than one million cubic meters of volcanic
material, including silica, magnesium and sulfur, which would be
dangerous to humans if it were mixed with the mudflows moving
toward the Cileutik, Cibeureum and Cimanuk Rivers flowing from
the volcano.

Meanwhile, director general of water resources at the Ministry
of Resettlement and Regional Infrastructure Rustam Syarif said
that some 2,600 hectares of paddy field in the regency were
suffering a shortage of water as the mudflows had damaged several
dams on the Cibeureum River.

"About Rp 7.5 billion (US$830,000) to Rp 10 billion would be
needed to repair the damaged dams over the next five years," he
said.