Indonesia downgrades volcano alert status
Posted: 08 November 2007 1449 hrs

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JAKARTA : Indonesian authorities on Thursday downgraded a three-week-old warning that a volcano in East Java was poised to erupt, meaning thousands of residents who evacuated its slopes could return home.

"As of 8 November 2007 at 04:05 (2105 GMT Wednesday), the status of Mount Kelut is downgraded from the fourth (and top) level to the third level," the volcanology office said on its website.

The top warning level means that scientists believe a volcano could erupt at any time.

Kelut was put on top alert on October 16 after continuous tremors indicated an eruption was in process. The volcano's activities, however, have been limited to spewing steam while a new lava dome formed in its crater lake.

"The eruption character of Kelut has undergone a change, from an explosive eruption manifested by a large, brief eruption... to an eruption that is effusive, as manifested by the formation of a lava dome," the office said.

Kelut's most recent eruption, in 1990, saw searing gases and volcanic debris shoot down its slopes, killing about 34 people.

The office said that analysis of instrument recordings and visual observation showed that "the energy that had been building up from 11 September 2007 to 3 November 2007 has only produced an effusive eruption."

The office said that residents who had evacuated to temporary shelters could return to their homes, but it called on them to remain alert and be prepared to leave should the volcano show renewed dangerous activity.

Noxious gases still being emitted from the crater and a possible eruption involving sludge from the crater lake flowing down the slopes meant that a radius of three kilometres (two miles) should remain off-limits, it added.

Mount Kelut's eruptions have claimed more than 15,000 lives, including an estimated 10,000 in a catastrophic 1586 eruption. A 1919 eruption spewed heat clouds that killed 5,160 people.

Indonesia sits on the so-called Pacific "Ring of Fire," where several continental plates collide, causing frequent seismic and volcanic activity. - AFP/ch