Attention! Lumajang Regency Government Needs Volunteers To Evacuate Residents Affected By The Semeru Eruption

The Regent of Lumajang directly inspected the area and residents affected by the hot cloud of Mount Semeru, in Sumberwuluh Village (Source: Diskominfo Lumajang)

JAKARTA - The Lumajang Regency Government, East Java, needs the help of volunteers to evacuate residents in Kamar Kajang Hamlet, Sumberwuluh Village, which were affected by the eruption of Mount Semeru.

"We urgently need additional volunteers to help evacuate residents tomorrow, Sunday, December 5 and tonight's evacuation cannot continue because of the heavy rain of volcanic ash," said Lumajang Regent Thoriqul Haq in his personal social media upload on Saturday night, December 4th.

He explained that in several locations in Lumajang it was still raining quite heavy volcanic ash and the falling hot clouds were also an obstacle for volunteers to evacuate residents in Kamar Kajang Hamlet, even nine people were reportedly still not found by their families.

"The head of the Probolinggo City BPBD has come and I thank you. I also coordinated with the regent and mayor of Malang to ask for help to move to Pronojiwo," he said.

The regent who is familiarly called Cak Thoriq said the terrain for evacuating was quite heavy and the hot clouds had not yet cooled, so it could endanger the safety of volunteers if forced to evacuate on Saturday night.

"Currently the Lumajang Regency Government together with the Lumajang BPBD Rapid Response Team (TRC) and volunteers are carrying out assistance or helping evacuate residents affected by the natural disaster," he said.

The Lumajang Regency Government, he continued, wanted to maximize the evacuation on Saturday night and residents who could be evacuated should be evacuated immediately so as not to become victims of the impact of the eruption of Mount Semeru.

"The situation is still an emergency at this time, the team that is still looking for and helping disaster victims need to think about their own safety because conditions at the disaster site are still hot lava and heavy ash rain occurs," he said.

The access road to Pronojiwo District could not be passed due to the broken Gladak Perak Bridge, so the Lumajang Regent asked for the help of the Regent and Mayor of Malang to provide assistance to affected residents in the Pronojiwo District.

"I communicated with the regent and mayor of Malang in the hope of helping us so that there is a drop of personnel from Malang to help residents in the Pronojiwo sub-district," he said.

Cak Thoriq said that his party identified those that could be reached first because the safety of the SAR team was also a consideration, so they saved those who had to be saved, but the SAR team/volunteers also had to be safe.