5 Villages Affected By Sand Rain Due To The Eruption Of Mount Ili Lewotolok

Ash Rain from Mount Ili Lewotolok, East Nusa Tenggara (Photo: ANTARA)

JAKARTA - Rain of sand due to the eruption of Mount Ili Lewotolok occurred in five villages in Ile Ape District, Lembata Regency, East Nusa Tenggara on Saturday, July 31. Deputy Regent of Lembata, Thimas Ola Langgoday when contacted from Kupang, said Saturday that the five villages were Waowala, Tanjung Batu, Amakaka, Lamawara and Bunga Muda villages.

"This sand rain incident occurred at around 15.00 WITA, after the eruption of Mount Ili Lewotolok had occurred," he said as quoted by ANTARA.

The sand rain, he said, lasted for approximately 15 to 20 minutes and resulted in a number of vehicles in the five villages being covered with sand ash from the mountain.

The local government appealed to residents to continue to wear masks when doing activities so that volcanic ash does not cause respiratory problems.

Meanwhile, Ile Lewotolok Volcano Observer Officer (PPGA), Jefri Pugel reported that the height of the ash column from the eruption reached 1000 meters above the peak of the mountain.

Visually, according to Jefri, two eruptions were observed with a height of 1000 meters, the color of the smoke was white and gray. The eruption was accompanied by a weak bang.

He explained that the market rain that spread to five villages occurred because of the wind at the top of the mountain which then brought the results of the mountain eruption to spread to several villages.

"Currently, the status of each mountain is on Alert or Level III, so people are also asked to remain vigilant and not be within a 3 kilometer radius from the top of the mountain," he added.

Furthermore, Thomas Ola Langoday added that related to the fire at the top of the mountain, it is still happening. But now heavy rain is still happening at the site of the fire.

"We hope that the rain will extinguish the fire. But we hope that it will not cause a flood of cold lava from the summit," he added.