Hundreds of Indonesians flee homes after volcano erupts
Local residents gather as Mount Semeru volcano spews volcanic ash during an eruption in Supiturang village in Lumajang, East Java province, Indonesia on Nov 20, 2025. (Photo: Reuters/Dipta Wahyu)
JAKARTA: Hundreds of Indonesians stayed in temporary shelters on Thursday (Nov 20) after a volcano on the main island of Java erupted, damaging houses and a school, with around 190 people evacuated from its slopes, authorities said.
Mount Semeru in eastern Java erupted on Wednesday afternoon, throwing ash and gas more than 13km away and forcing officials to raise the alert status to its highest level.
Volcanic activity had largely calmed down but was still fluctuating on Thursday, according to the Indonesian geological agency.
East Java's rescue agency deployed dozens of personnel to assist with the evacuation, with 956 people living close to the volcano already moved to schools, mosques and government buildings, said agency official Prahista Dian.
"We've also deployed personnel to search for whether there are still residents trapped or not," he added.
"During the night, they stay (in shelters) probably because they are still traumatised," disaster agency official Sultan Syafaat said.
Resident Faiz Ramadhani told AFP the eruption had been "very horrible".
"At that time, four o'clock in the afternoon, it was like midnight. It was very dark," the 20-year-old said.
Authorities were also evacuating nearly 190 people from the volcano's slopes on Thursday, most of whom were hikers who had been stranded at a campsite after the eruption, said Rudijanto Tjahja Nugraha, head of the Semeru national park.
The climbers were stuck overnight at a lakeside camping area at the foot of the volcano, about 6.4km from the crater, but were now being helped to safety, said Septi Wardhani, an official at Semeru National Park.
"All climbers with their guides are safe," Wardhani told Reuters. "The situation is under control."
Some houses near the volcano were partially buried by volcanic ash and rock fragments.
Nurul Yakin Pribadi, head of Supiturang village, said he was "shocked" to find his house damaged.
"There was a metre-high spill of (volcanic) materials on my house," he told AFP. "Many people's houses were damaged."
At least one elementary school was flattened, Lumajang district secretary Agus Triyono said, adding that authorities were still gathering data on the damage to infrastructure.
At least three people suffered from burns, a search and rescue official said in a statement.
Footage from Indonesia's volcanology agency showed a huge cloud of hot ash billowing from the crater and blanketing the slopes of the volcano.
Its last major eruption was in December 2021, when at least 51 people were killed and nearby villages were blanketed in ash, damaging more than 5,000 homes and forcing almost 10,000 people to seek refuge.
The 3,676m-high Mount Semeru is one of about 130 active volcanoes in Indonesia, which straddles the Pacific Ring of Fire, a highly seismically active zone, where different plates on the earth’s crust meet and create a large number of earthquakes and volcanoes.
