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Indonesia: Semeru volcano spews ash 15km high – Nearly 2,000 residents evacuated

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The provincial search and rescue service deployed teams to the worst-hit areas near the mountain to assess the damage, with low rainfall providing some relief

Thousands of residents in Indonesia’s East Java have been left reeling since the eruption of Mount Semeru, the island’s tallest volcano, prompted authorities to impose an 8km exclusion zone while forcing the evacuation of entire villages.

The provincial search and rescue agency deployed teams to the hardest-hit areas near the mountain to assess the damage, with low rainfall providing some relief, National Search and Rescue Agency spokesman Tholib Vatelehan told Reuters.

Hot volcanic ash 15 km high is thrown into the air from the volcano.

Almost 2,000 residents have left their homes.

No casualties have been reported and there was no immediate disruption to air travel.

The 3,676-meter-high volcano erupted at 2:46 p.m. local time on Sunday. Footage taken by local residents showed the mountain spewing a giant cloud of gray ash high above its crater, which later engulfed the mountain and surrounding rice fields, roads and bridges.

Semeru erupted last year killing more than 50 people and displacing thousands more.

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