The Heli Of The Mount Marapi Lahar Monitoring Team Fails To Fly Due To Bad Weather

DOK ANTARA/M Riezko Bima Elko Prasetyo)

The helicopter that was about to transport a joint team of rain clouds and lava material monitoring, rocks of upstream river sediment at the peaks of Mount Marapi in Padang Panjang, West Sumatra (West Sumatra) failed to fly due to bad weather.

The joint team consists of the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG), the Geological Agency of the Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources (ESDM), and the Ministry of Public Works and Public Housing (PUPR) are scheduled to fly from Kayu Kubu Field, Bukittinggi, West Sumatra, at 10.20 WIB with the aim of monitoring the upstream of the Mount Marapi river in Padang Panjang, Agam, and Tanah Datar.

"But because the helicopter had to land in an emergency due to bad weather, it had to be postponed and this activity would be adjusted to weather conditions," said BMKG Head Dwikorita Karnawati in Bukittinggi as reported by ANTARA, Wednesday, May 15.

He explained that air monitoring uses important helicopters to determine for sure the position of the distribution of lahar material, rocks that settle upstream of the slopes of Mount Marapi.

The reason is, the information received by the BMKG reports that currently there are still many piles of material in the form of sand, small stones on the west, south, southwest, and north of Mount Marapi. Meanwhile, at the same time, rain clouds are also in the same area, thus strengthening the potential for further lava flooding to occur.

Moreover, he continued, the tools that are the mainstay for monitoring are in the form of seismic and unmanned aircraft/drone belonging to the Geological Agency of the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources and River V Basin Center, Ministry of PUPR in West Sumatra, which cannot reach the top of the mountain, which is three kilometers from the downstream.

"That's why we have to know which side to handle, so that if it really rains heavily and causes further lava flooding, it will not cause new victims or new distribution areas," he said.

Meanwhile, the Head of the Mount Marapi Disaster Emergency Response Team, Geological Agency of the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources, Muhammad Nurul Asrori, reported that there were 25 rivers that originated in Mount Marapi, two of which needed special attention, namely the Bukik Batabuah and the Pua River.

The two downstream rivers will cross the Agam area, Tanah Datar, Padang Panjang surrounding areas and the conditions are currently undergoing changes in diameter and depth due to lava floods on Saturday (11/5) night.

"The obstacle downstream has begun to be cleaned, what needs to be confirmed is that the rock pile upstream is the position where as a follow-up disaster mitigation step as the potential for rain is still high at this time," he said.

Previously, the National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB) recorded a number of sub-districts in Agam, Tanah Datar, and Padang Panjang Regencies that were hit by floods mixed with Mount Marapi lava material on Saturday (11/5) night. After an assessment on Monday (13/5) it is known that disasters also hit the Padang Pariaman Regency and Padang City.

The disaster was reported to have caused serious damage and had cut off the Padang-Agam-Tanah Datar-Bukittinggi-Solok transportation route so that an emergency response period was set for the next 14 days starting Monday (13/5).

The number of victims of the lava flood that rained on Mount Marapi died increased by eight people, bringing the total to 58 victims.

The number of missing victims has increased again from 27 to 35 people, all of whom are still in the search process. In addition, 1,543 families were affected and 33 people were injured.

The victims were confirmed to have come from five districts/cities affected by the Mount Marapi lava flood, namely Agam Regency, Tanah Datar, Padang Pariaman, Padang City, and Padang Panjang.