Residents living in the shadow of an Indonesian volcano are bracing for disaster

[ASEAN NOW Content Team]

 

After Mount Semeru erupted on Saturday, at least 14 people were killed, scores were injured, and hundreds of families were displaced.

 

Residents living in the shadow of Indonesia's Mount Semeru sifted among wrecked things after their homes were blanketed by the volcanic explosion on Saturday, surrounded by an apocalyptic scene of molten ash and mud.

Fathers hugged distraught daughters, old villagers carried mattresses on their backs, and farmers brought goats that had survived, all in the hopes of salvaging all they could from the ruins of their hamlet.

 

"We had no idea it was hot mud," said Bunadi, a Kampung Renteng village resident.

"All of a sudden, the sky darkened as showers and thick smoke poured down."

According to a disaster mitigation agency official, the eruption has killed 14 people and injured 56 others.

The number of injuries was lower than the previous tally of 98, with 35 of them being severe.
A total of 1,300 individuals have been evacuated, according to the official.

 

It also resulted in the eviction of many people and the placement of hundreds of others in shelters.

Mothers sat on the floor next to their sleeping children at a nearby mosque, grateful to have survived the ash deluge that engulfed entire towns and left hundreds with severe burns.

 

‘Almost saved’

Despite the dangers of breathing the unclean air, some people returned to their ghost towns after the eruption, trying to pick up the pieces from the bitter sea of mud.

Plates, pots, and bowls stood on a table in one residence in East Java's Lumajang area as if dinner was being served, but the food had been substituted with portions of volcanic ash.

Some people looked for missing friends and family with great zeal.

"The mudslide dragged away ten individuals," Salim, another Kampung Renteng resident, claimed.
"One of them was on the verge of being saved.
He was urged to flee, but he refused, saying, "I can't; who will feed my cows?"

 

House roofs at Sumber Wuluh stuck out from deep mud layers, highlighting the massive amount of water that had dropped on the area.

Cows were either dead or clinging to life as their flesh was torn away by the scorching heat.

While rescuers in orange uniforms laboured against a terrible dark-grey backdrop, one evacuee's cigarette hung from his mouth as he was dragged to safety.

As smoke continued to billow, a group of Sumber Wuluh locals stood together amid the ash, facing towards Semeru's crater.