The Indonesian government has announced that people around Mount Lewotobi Laki-laki would be permanently relocated after it erupted over the weekend.
A succession of volcanic outbursts at the location killed at least nine people and forced thousands of people to flee.
As part of “long-term mitigation,” the government plans to move all residents within a 7-kilometer radius of the crater.
Mount Lewotobi Laki-laki remains on the highest volcanic alert status.
Suharyanto, the chief of Indonesia’s disaster agency, stated in a statement on Wednesday that permanent relocation is seen as a “long-term mitigation measure” to foresee similar eruptions in the future.
He added that all residents within a 7-kilometer radius of the crater had to be relocated by the authorities.
The local government has declared a state of emergency for the next 57 days and prohibited any activity in that area.
There are over 16,000 residents living in the villages nearest to the volcano, but the government is still calculating how many people will be permanently relocated.
Suharyanto said the government would also build houses for the relocation, without giving further detail.
Similar permanent relocation plans were announced in May after eruptions of the Ruang volcano in the North Sulawesi province.
Another volcano in East Nusa Tenggara province, around 200 kilometers from Mount Lewotobi Laki-laki, was just elevated to the second-highest classification by Indonesia’s volcanology agency on Tuesday because of its “rising” volcanic activity. As of Wednesday, though, no eruption had been observed.
Mount Lewotobi Laki-laki eruptions were unrelated to Mount Iya’s increasing activity, according to agency spokesperson Hadi Wijaya.
Straddling the so-called “Pacific Ring of Fire,” an area where many tectonic plates intersect and experience intense earthquake activity, lies Indonesia.
Among the 120 active volcanoes in the nation is the 1,584-meter-tall Mount Lewotobi Laki Laki.
