- A video from user novanhendri510 went mega-viral with over 67 million views, showing people clambering out of their homes as massive gray smoke clouds loom in the distance.
- Hefty ash columns rising up to 40,000 feet in the air, as well as a mix of gas and lava, hit several surrounding villages in the area, according to NPR.
- A witness told Agence France-Presse that the villagers were lucky they were able to breathe because of the heavy rainfall at the time of the eruption: “Locals here thought it was just usual floods. We did not know it was hot mud. All of a sudden, the sky turned dark as rain and hot smoke came.”
- Authorities and residents dug through thick swaths of mud with their hands to rescue victims.
- The Southeast Asian country’s Center for Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation confirmed that Semeru erupted again on Monday.
- Indonesia is an archipelago country that sits on the Pacific “Ring of Fire,” where multiple moving tectonic plates cause high seismic activity such as earthquakes and volcanoes, according to Reuters.
- The nation itself has over 100 active volcanoes, with Semeru being Java’s tallest and one of its most active, having had 55 eruptions since 1818.
- While about 2,000 people have been evacuated, rescue teams continue to struggle due to bad weather, pyroclastic clouds and other environmental concerns.
- “Hot volcanic cloud is dangerous for the team safety,” Operational Chief of Search and Rescue I Wayan Suyatna told CNN. “The weather here is also really bad. [It is] dark and rainy.”
- The Indonesian government said it is readying relocation for displaced villagers. The National Board for Disaster Management will supply monetary aid in the meantime. Almost 3,000 homes were destroyed.