Indonesia's Mount Ili Lewotolok Erupts, Thousands of People Evacuated

A powerful eruption occurred in Mount Ili Lewotolok, Indonesia, on November 29, 9:45 AM (local time). The volcano produced a dense dark ash plume that rose to approximately 4,000 meters above the summit.

Shortly after the eruption, moderately heavy ash rain of lapilli-sized pyroclastic material occurred, covering all surfaces. The resident is warned of the ballistic impacts of volcanic bombs, pyroclastic flows, and lahars that could affect areas of about 2 kilometers from the crater.

Mount Ili Lewotolok in Indonesia

Raditya Jati, a spokesman for the National Disaster Management Agency, said that the eruption had caused panic among nearby residents.

Mount Ili Lewotolok volcano is in the northern part of Lembata Island, Lembata Regency, East Nusa Tenggara Province. It is approximately 1,615 miles east of Jakarta, the nation's capital.

The volcano had little or no activity for almost eight years. Its last eruption was in January 2012, but since November 27, the volcano has high activity levels.

On November 27, Pusat Vulkanologi dan Mitigasi Bencana Geologi recorded continuous emission of large ashes, with a small amount of gas and steam that started a5 5:57 AM, local time. A dense gray-black ask plume also rose at 500 meters above the summit, which then drifted west.

Thousands of people evacuated

A column of smoke and ash had been belching at 2.5 miles into the skies, prompting a flight warning and closure of the local airport.

Around 2,780 people from 26 villages were evacuated, but Jati reported that there are no casualties so far.

Indonesia's Center for Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation posted on its website that the volcano areas are expected to have "hot clouds, lava stream, lava avalanche, and poisonous gas."

As per Relief Web's report, a total of 487,833 people and $1.38 Billion (USD) worth of infrastructure are at risk from the eruption.

PVMBG also advised people around Mount Ili Lewotolok and anyone who intends to climb the mountain to stay away from the danger zone, around mountain craters, and all areas within the 2-kilometer radius summit of the volcano.

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Previous volcanic eruption in Indonesia

Earlier this month. Indonesian authorities evacuated hundreds of Mount Merapi volcano residents' fertile slopes on Java Island as the volcano increased its volcanic activity. About 500 people across four villages, mostly elderly, pregnant women, and children, were evacuated to emergency shelters in Central Java's Megalang District in Central Java province.

Hanik Humaida, the head of Yogyakarta's Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation Center, warned that the Merapi volcano could erupt at any time, possibly sending hot gas clouds down its slopes up to three miles.

Merapi is Indonesia's most active volcano. In June this year, Merapi released ash and hot gas in a column as high as 3.7. miles in June, but no casualties were reported.

In 2010, Merapi had a major eruption killing 347 people and caused the evacuation of 20,000 residents in the volcano's surrounding villages.

Indonesia's Center for Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation's head, Pak Kasbani told Reuters that the Ili Lewotolok volcano eruption status was raised to the second-highest level due to "increasing threats." Indonesia has four tier-alert systems.

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