Kelud

Kelut, Java

The Kelut, also Kelud or Gunung Kelud, is an active volcano in the east of the Indonesian island of Java. Like many Indonesian volcanoes he is known for violent, explosive eruptions, and this is one of the most dangerous volcanoes of Java. To drain the crater lake, which is mainly responsible for mudflows, a tunnel system was installed.

The surrounding the Kelut levels are populated fertile and densely. Within a radius of ten kilometers has an estimated 350,000 people. In around 27 km away is the roughly 250,000 inhabitants, Kediri. About 90 kilometers north-east is the city of Surabaya million.

History

Since the year 1000 AD more than 30 eruptions have been recorded. The duration of the inactive phases varies since the year 1300 between nine and 75 years. An eruption in 1586 cost around 10,000 lives. In the 20th century there were in 1901, 1919, 1951, 1966 and 1990 outbreaks. Common to all was the relatively short duration of a few hours.

On May 19, 1919 5110 people died in an eruption of Kelut killed, as already in 1586 mainly by mud flows, lahars so-called, which struck in 1919 within an hour to areas at 38 Kilometres away. The eruptions of 1951, 1966 and 1990 together killed around 250 people. Pyroclastic flows of the 1990 eruption reached areas that were seven to eight kilometers from the crater, mudflows penetrated up to 24 kilometers from the surrounding region.

Eruption in 2007

On 30 September 2007, the authorities proclaimed the warning level three out of four. This was due to increasing seismic activity, rising temperatures of the crater lake and the change in the chemical composition and the color of the lake. In addition gases increased to. The population was called rings observed a five- kilometer-wide security zone around the volcano. On 16th October 2007 high alert was declared and ordered the evacuation of an area of 10 kilometers around the Kelut. On 5 November 2007 the temperature of the crater lake was above 90 ° C, which resulted in the crater to the failure of the instrumentation. On 9 November 2007, the alert level was lowered again, however, and thousands of people were able to return to their homes. In the course of November stood up in the midst of the crater lake, a lava dome above the water level, fell from the sometimes glowing masses in the lake. Volcanologists spoke of a "slow eruption ".

During the year 2008, the volcanic activity came to a standstill as far as that in May 2008, the warning status could be reduced to Level " Green".

Eruption in 2014

On February 13, 2014, renewed eruption began on Kelut. The following ash fall covered an area of ​​about 500 square kilometers. Authorities evacuated a ten- kilometer-wide security zone around the volcano. Where around 200,000 people live. Overall, hundreds of thousands of people have fled their homes. Three people died.

The volcano hurled on February 14, 2014 gas, ash and debris thousands of feet into the air. Nocturnal eruptions could still be heard in Yogyakarta 300 km away. The area of Surabaya to Yogyakarta was covered by a thick layer of ash gray, overcast sky gray, the visibility was only a few meters. The airports of Bandung, Cilacap, Malang, Semarang, Solo, Surabaya and Yogyakarta were closed. They tried to cover the Borobudur Temple with tarpaulins.

When the Kelut was not erupted again on February 15, 2014 still stood a three- mile-high white cloud of smoke from the crater into the sky. The ash had buried the environment up to 600 kilometers away. The airport staff cleaned the start and runways, and the airports of Cilacap, Malang, Semarang and Surabaya were reopened. So far, four people had died from the effects of the volcanic eruption.

The crater lake

In the crater of the volcano was located until 2007, fed by rain water lake. He was mainly responsible for the devastating lahars during eruptions. This was the reason for planning a drainage tunnel, which should be reduced by lowering the water level, the risk of mudflows. Difficult working conditions led until 1926 to implement a system of seven parallel tunnels with a siphon tube for drainage. This system is considered one of the world's most ambitious engineering constructions that have been installed to reduce volcanic hazard. It must be replaced by outbreaks at least partially again, but in each case could cause that the lake water level remains at a low level.

An increase in the water temperature of the lake was an important signal of impending outbreaks. The eruption of 1990 was an increase in temperature from 30 ° C to 39 ° C ahead. However, it came in 1996 to a temperature increase of 42 ° C to 50 ° C without a subsequent outbreak occurred.

Since the formation of the lava dome 2007 only insignificant remnants are visible from the lake.