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JAKARTA - A volcano in Indonesia's crowded West Java province erupted today belching black smoke, lava and ash onto the surrounding neighbourhood and forcing more than 4,000 people to flee their homes, officials said. The 2,665-metres-high Papandayan volcano in West Java's district of Garut, 200 kilometres southeast of Jakarta, began erupting yesterday.
By morning, the volcano had erupted five times with the biggest burst occurring at about 4 a.m. local time, when black smoke reached up to 1,000 metres high, said Djumarma Wirakusumah, director of the government-run directorate general of vulcanology in the West Java city of Bandung.
''We are closely monitoring the volcano's activity,'' Wirakusumah told Deutsche Presse-Agentur DPA by telephone. ''It's difficult for us to determine whether the volcano will become worse or if it is subsiding.'' The volcano began wreaking havoc in the area on Monday afternoon, when lahar - accumulated lava from past flows - on the top of the volcano broke off after heavy rains and flooded down on nearby villages burying 17 houses, an Islamic boarding school, and two bridges.
''We have declared a radius of one-kilometre from the crater off limits for residents or visitors,'' Wirakusumah said, adding the ban included a tourist spot located in the area. Dede Satibi, Garut's district chief, said more than 4,000 people living in five villages under the volcano were evacuated, with residents being sheltered at mosques and public buildings.
Satibi said to prevent accidents, residents living along the Cibeureum Luetik river were also told to vacate their homes until futher notice. Wirakusumah revealed that Papandayan's biggest recorded eruption took place in 1772 when up to 3,000 people were killed. The volcano's latest eruption was in 1993, but there were no reports of casualties.
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