Floods
Flash floods and cool lava flow from a volcano killed at least 12 people, including children, and left four more missing in western Indonesia according to rescue officials.
“Twelve people died and they had been taken to the hospital and four other people are still being searched in Agam district,” the head of the local rescue agency Abdul Malik said in a statement on Sunday.
According to the Basarnas search and rescue service, the tragedy struck Agam and Tanah Datar districts in West Sumatra province around 1530 GMT on Saturday, following hours of heavy rain, resulting in a flash flood and a cold lava flow from Mount Marapi.
Cold lava, also known as lahar, is volcanic material such as ash, sand, and pebbles transported down a volcano’s slopes by rain. Nine bodies have been identified, including those of a three- and eight-year-old, he stated.
Authorities sent out a team of rescuers and rubber boats to seek the missing casualties and take them to shelters. The local administration established evacuation shelters and emergency posts in different locations across the two districts.
Indonesia is prone to landslides and floods during the rainy season. In March, at least 26 persons were found dead in West Sumatra due to landslides and floods.
Saturday’s floods in Agam and Tanah Datar also brought cool lava from Mount Merapi, Sumatra’s most active volcano and one of almost 130 active volcanoes in the Indonesian archipelago.
In December, Marapi erupted, sending an ash tower 3,000 meters into the sky, taller than the volcano itself.
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