Indonesia Province In State of Emergency After Deadly Flooding, Cold Lava Torrents
By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News
PADANG/MEDAN (Worthy News) – The people in Indonesia’s West Sumatra province faced a state of emergency Saturday after incessant rain caused flash floods and torrents of mud and ‘cold lava,’ also known as ‘lahars,’ killing scores of people.
Authorities have been especially concerned about lahars, a mixture of water, volcanic ash, tephra, and rock fragments capable of crushing buildings or vehicles in their way.
The declared emergency status would last until May 26, said Ilham Wahab, spokesperson of the West Sumatra Disaster Mitigation Agency (BPBD).
“Declaring a state of emergency is necessary to speed up the disaster mitigation process, including victim evacuation and aid distribution,” Ilham explained earlier this week.
To prevent more devastation in the region, Indonesian authorities have seeded clouds trying to halt further rain and flash floods after deluges that hit Sumatra Island, of which West Sumatra is a part, left at least 67 people dead and another 20 missing.
Monsoon rains triggered a mud and cold lava landslide from Mount Marapi, eventually causing rivers to breach their banks.
ACTIVE VOLCANO
Marapi has been active since an eruption late last year that killed 23 climbers, Worthy News reported from Indonesia at the time. It is among more than 120 active volcanoes in Indonesia.
Authorities said the latest deluge tore through mountainside villages in four districts in West Sumatra province just before midnight a week ago on Saturday.
The floods reportedly swept away people and dozens of homes and submerged hundreds of houses and buildings.
The tragedy forced more than 1,500 families to flee to temporary government shelters, said National Disaster Management Agency spokesperson Abdul Muhari.
He said this week that 67 bodies had been pulled from mud and rivers, mainly in the worst-hit Agam and Tanah Datar districts, while rescuers were searching for 20 people reported missing. About 44 villagers were injured.
An air force plane was sent up to shoot salt flares into the clouds on Wednesday to get the clouds to release water and break up before they reach the devastated areas in West Sumatra province.
MUCH SALT
Cloud seeding involves dispersing particles into clouds to create precipitation and modify the weather.
About 15 tons of salt have been prepared for the seeding operation, officials said.
The National Disaster Management Agency announced that Wednesday’s action aimed to redirect the rain elsewhere and keep the search operation free of downpours, which could hamper the rescuers’ progress.
Local Christians have told Worthy News they were also concerned about other parts of Sumatra Island, including regional hub Medan, where flooding was reported in some areas.
Heavy rains cause frequent landslides and flash floods in Indonesia, an archipelago nation of more than 17,000 islands where millions of mainly Muslim people live in mountainous areas or near floodplains.
The country is prone to seismic upheaval because of its location on the Pacific “Ring of Fire,” an arc of volcanoes and fault lines encircling the Pacific Basin.
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