Mount Lewotobi Men Still At Alert Level, East Flores Fishermen Start Fishing In The Sea

Two fishermen land ketinting after fishing in the waters of East Flores Regency, East Nusa Tenggara (NTT). (ANTARA/Gecio Viana)

LABUAN BAJO - In the middle of the status of Mount Lewotobi Men Level IV (Awas), it appears that a number of fishermen in East Flores Regency (Flotim), East Nusa Tenggara (NTT) have started fishing in marine waters.

"This is our first day fishing after almost two weeks of being afraid to go to sea," said Lewolaga Village fisherman Joni Bentu (51) when met after fishing in Flotim waters, reported by ANTARA, Saturday, November 16.

He explained that so far there were around 37 fishing fishermen who were afraid to go to sea for fear of being affected by the eruption of Mount Lewotobi Laki.

Although he is still worried about going to sea because the sea area is adjacent to Mount Lewotobi Laki, Joni admitted that he was forced to fish to meet economic needs.

"If you don't go fishing half to death alive," he said.

He added that before the eruption of Mount Lewotobi, fishermen from fishing are usually sold to villagers and several neighboring villages and meet household consumption.

"Over the past two weeks, we have worked odd jobs in fields or fields that are paid Rp. 50,000 per day, hopefully this natural disaster will pass soon," he said.

Meanwhile, based on reports per six hours by the Center for Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation (PVMBG), the Geological Agency, the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources (ESDM) of Mount Lewotobi, the man who has a height of 1,584 meters above sea level is at Level IV (Awas) Status.

In observations on Saturday at 00.00 WITA to 06.00 WITA, visual observations showed the volcano covered in 0-I fog until it was covered in fog 0-II. Observed the smoke from the main crater was gray with a high thick intensity of about 1,500-2,000 meters from the summit.

For seismic observations, there was one earthquake with an amplitude of 7.4 mm and an earthquake of 80 seconds long, three earthquake gusts with an amplitude of 5.9-14.8 mm, and a long earthquake of 32-98 seconds, one low frequency earthquake with an amplitude of 5.9 mm, and a long earthquake of 33 seconds and one tremor earthquake with an amplitude of 3.7-4.4 mm, dominant 3.7 mm.

Meanwhile, based on data from refugees from the eruption of Mount Lewotobi Male from the East Flores Regency Government, there were six Field Posts (Poslap) for Refugees in the area. As of Friday (15/11) at 20.00 WITA, there were 1,825 refugees in Poslap Konga, 764 refugees in Poslap Bokang, 1,669 refugees at Lewolaga Post, 1,046 refugees at Puslap Eputobi, 690 refugees at the Kobasoma Postlap and 394 refugees at the Ile Gerong Postlap.