Indonesia: floods and cold lava from Marapi volcano kill 37

At least 37 people have been killed after flash floods and cold lava flowing from a volcano hit the western Indonesian island of Sumatra.

Hours of heavy rain on Saturday swept torrents of ash and rocks off Mount Marapi, Sumatra’s most active volcano.

Cold mudslides flooded two districts, killed people and damaged more than 100 homes, mosques and public facilities.

Authorities say the death toll could rise as 18 people are missing.

Survivors described how they fled as cold lava – a mixture of volcanic material and pebbles that flows down the slopes of a volcano in the rain – flowed towards their homes.

“I heard thunder and a sound like boiling water. It was the sound of big rocks falling from Mount Marapi,” Rina Devina, a 43-year-old housewife from Agam district.

“It was dark, so I used my cell phone as a flashlight. The road was muddy, so I chanted ‘God have mercy’ over and over,” Ms Devina said.

The mother of three added that a neighbor’s house had been “flattened by large rocks” and four of her neighbors had died.

By Sunday afternoon, rescuers had found 19 bodies in the worst-hit village of Canduang in Agam district and nine more bodies in neighboring Tanah Datar district, according to the National Search and Rescue Agency.

Berliana Reskyka, another resident of Agam, spoke about her experience helping her injured neighbors.

“There were some who were crying, hysterical, because some of their family members had not yet been found. There were also those who learned that their loved ones were dead,” Berliana told the Indonesian BBC.

The deluge is the latest in a series of natural disasters resulting, at least in part, from human activities, environmental experts told the Indonesian BBC.

“Flash floods and cold mudslides continue to recur and intensify due to excessive exploitation of natural resources and haphazard development,” said Wengki Purwanto, director of the West Sumatra branch of the Indonesian Environment Forum.

“As a result, disasters repeat themselves every year. In fact, their frequency increases every year. The distance between one disaster and the next is getting closer,” he said.

The area around Mount Marapi has experienced several similar disasters in the past six months.

On December 5, 23 hikers were killed when the volcano erupted, while in February this year, flash floods damaged dozens of houses in Tanah Datar.

Last month, days of eruption threw huge ash clouds, reaching a height of 2 km, into the sky. Flights in the region were halted, roads closed and more than 11,000 people ordered to evacuate.

Marapi translates from the local Minang language to “Mountain of Fire”.