Mount Lewotobi eruption kills at least 10 and forces villages to evacuate in eastern Indonesia

# Mount Lewotobi eruption kills at least 10 and forces villages to evacuate in eastern Indonesia

Event date: 2024-11-04.

A series of eruptions from Mount Lewotobi Laki-Laki on Flores Island in eastern Indonesia killed at least 10 people, burned homes and forced authorities to evacuate several villages. The volcano, a 1,703-metre twin peak on the popular tourist island, erupted just after midnight and sent fireballs and ash onto surrounding settlements.

Indonesia’s disaster mitigation agency said the eruptions had affected 10,295 people, while the country’s volcanology agency moved the mountain to the highest alert level and expanded the exclusion zone to a 7km radius. Officials said the scale of the event was still being assessed as evacuation operations continued across nearby villages.

The death toll reflected the violence of the eruption as well as the vulnerability of communities living close to the volcano. People described being startled awake by shaking and seeing flaming rocks, thick ash and fire around their homes. One resident, hairdresser Hermanus Mite, said he ran outside when the volcano erupted and found his salon on fire and covered in ash and stones.

Footage received by AFP showed houses blanketed in grey ash, while an AFP journalist near the volcano reported that five villages were evacuated and thousands of people sought shelter elsewhere. Some wooden homes caught fire and the ground was pockmarked by molten rock. The volcanology agency also warned of the risk of rain-induced lava floods and told residents to wear masks against volcanic ash.

The eruption was not an isolated event. Officials said the volcano had already erupted several times the previous week, with the biggest burst on Thursday sending a high column of ash into the sky. It had also produced major eruptions in January that forced the evacuation of at least 2,000 residents.

Indonesia sits on the Pacific Ring of Fire and experiences frequent volcanic activity, but this eruption stood out because of the number of people exposed and the speed with which the danger spread across villages. The country has also seen deadly volcanic disasters elsewhere, including the Mount Marapi eruption in December and the floods that swept volcanic material into residential areas in May.

For communities around Lewotobi, the immediate challenge was not just the eruption itself but ash, fire damage and the risk of further flows. The official response focused on evacuation and the expansion of exclusion zones, suggesting authorities were preparing for continued instability rather than a single, brief burst of activity.