BNPB Ensures Mount Mother Eruption Evacuation Does Not Use School Facilities

JAKARTA - The National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB) ensures that it does not use school facilities to become temporary shelters for people affected by the eruption of Mount Ibu in West Halmahera, North Maluku.

"We may not use school facilities as a place to evacuate, this is done so as not to interfere with children's teaching and learning activities," said BNPB Director of Emergency Resources Support, Agus Riyanto in a conference on the latest developments after the eruption of Mount Ibu in Jakarta, Wednesday, January 15, which was confiscated by Antara.

Agus explained that the BNPB had submitted these considerations to the Government of West Halmahera Regency and North Maluku Province moments after receiving reports of an increase in the status of Mount Ibu's volcanic activity this afternoon.

In the planned operation of this emergency response period, BNPB asked the local government to prepare all public facilities buildings, such as village and sub-district centers or individual ones so that they can be used to accommodate residents if conditions in the field require them to be evacuated.

"How many residents will be evacuated, where are they located, including how much basic needs assistance will all be in detail at tonight's assessment," he said.

He added that as of Wednesday afternoon there had been no evacuation activity for residents, but the joint team of officers was on standby, especially in areas around the danger zone, which is at a radius of 5-6 kilometers from the north of the crater of Mount Ibu.

The status of Mount Ibu activity in West Halmahera, North Maluku was upgraded from previously Alert to Alert or level IV, on Wednesday afternoon, by the Geological Agency of the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources (ESDM).

The increase in status was carried out after the Geological Agency team detected a significant increase in Mount Ibu's volcanic activity in the period 1-14 January 2025.

Officers at the Gunung Ibu observation post in Gam Ici Village, West Halmahera recorded an eruption incident reaching an average of 70 events per day. In the January 2025 period, the height of the fluctuating eruption column was observed and symptoms of an increase in the height of the eruption column to a maximum of four kilometers from above the peak.

In this time range, 748 earthquake eruptions were reported, 70 earthquake avalanches, 1,643 earthquake gusts, 6,976 shallow volcanic earthquakes, 346 deep volcanic earthquakes, 60 local tectonic earthquakes with a dominant amplitude of 3 millimeters.

For this reason, the Geological Agency continues to urge people around Mount Ibu and tourists not to move within a 5 kilometer radius and to expand sectorally 6 kilometers to the crater opening in the northern part of the active crater of Mount Ibu, because it is dangerous.