It’s been a while since my last Indonesia Banget post, been busy and I often missed the date…suddenly it was already pass 17. I only want to share Indonesia Banget every 17 of each month.
I always know that Indonesia is an archipelago country with lots of mountain, in the news it says that we have over 400 mountains and 130 of them are active volcanoes. The volcanoes in Indonesia are part of Pacific Ring of Fire.
Even though I know the fact since I was in elementary but it never really hit me till I go outside Jakarta. The Only mountain that can be seen from Jakarta is Mount Salak in Bogor (and I lived there for 3,5 years, so I got a chance to see it much closer). Then I started mountain hiking during college and it was a wonderful experience to be able to stand on the top on the mountain. Recently, on my East Java trip, I saw more mountain stretch across Java Island. Everywhere I turn my head I saw mount this and mount that.
Here are the list of active volcanoes in Indonesia (there are some missing here)
Why did I say some are missing in the map? Because the inactive ones are mostly sleeping…one day they can wake up and startle everyone.
Back in September, Mount Sinabung in North Sumatra (it’s not in the map) suddenly woke up from her sleep for 400 years. Mount Sinabung has erupted 8 times since September 2013. Somewhere in late January or early February, the mountain released hot cloud that killed 15 people.
When one volcano erupts we start worrying that another will follow…and last Thursday, Mount Kelud (the second most active volcano in Indonesia) decided to follow Mount Sinabung. Mount Kelud erupted and spewed ashes and debris as high as 17 km and the wind carried it as far as Bandung (which is more than 500km away from Kelud).
Several airports were closed due to the ashes.
And of course, when a volcano erupts, thousand of lives have to moved out of their houses to temporary shelters and causing them their crops and castles to go bad. They have no house and no job because of the eruption … but there’s nothing we can do, we have to move on.
Let’s pray for the people around Mount Sinabung and Mount Kelud, wishing them strength and patience.
Since this post is about Volcano, it won’t be complete without mentioning the historical Mount Krakatau.
On August 27, 1883 the most powerful volcanic eruption in recorded history took place on the Krakatoa Islands. Located between Java and Sumatra, the islands themselves owed their existence to a massive eruption early in the 5th century AD. In the wake of the 1883 eruption over 36,000 lay dead and the entire island detonated with a force unknown in the pre-atomic age. Krakatoa, which stood some 6000 feet above sea level on August 26th, had simply ceased to exist twenty-four hours later. Some three-quarters of the island had been blasted away or sank beneath the ocean into the crater where the volcano once stood. The eruption bundled together a catalogue of individual disasters: massive explosions, earthquakes, toxic clouds of superheated ash and gasses, and a tsunami whose 140 foot waves decimated 165 villages in the region. A ship in a nearby bay was lifted by the ensuing tidal wave and deposited two miles inland. A volcanic hail of stones rained from the sky while shrouds of ash turned the daytime sky pitch black.
”The explosion is considered to be the loudest sound ever heard in modern history, with reports of it being heard nearly 3,000 miles (4,800 km) from its point of origin.”
Taken from: Asian History.
As if the mother itself is not enough, we have Anak Krakatau (Krakatau’s Child) which is also an active volcano ready to erupt anytime.
Even with that many volcanoes ready to erupt…we still love our Volcanoes Country 🙂
Polychrome Interest 
Wow these are great photographs
Miss. Novia 🙂 Have a lovely rest of
Monday and a wonderful week ahead 🙂
Andro xxxx
Thank you Andro…none of the active volcanoes are mine tho 😉
I must admit volcanoes kind of scare me. They are so powerful and so unpredictable. They’re beautiful as well, when you can view them in safety. I have never been near one myself.
Me too!! In safety, they do look great. I am not in safety zone if Anak Krakatau or Mount Salak erupt 😦 Hopefully they won’t erupt anytime soon 😉
I certainly hope not!
Yeah it’s pretty scary isn’t it? I remember when I went to a Pompeii exhibit at a local Science Museum there’s a huge map on the floor that shows all the volcanic grounds on earth. Of course our ENTIRE country is on the Pacific Ring of Fire.
Hope you stay safe, Nov!
It’s scary but we are after all the second most happy people (based on some east Europe paper) so we’ll built up everything after any volcano eruption with a smile 😉
Thank you Ruth 🙂
Glad your ok and stay safe. On the other side it must sound cool to be a nation of Volcanoes, Dragons will fly out of one some day 😀
Hahahaha…I think we will stick to lava than dragons 😉
Always pick the dragons!
Also you have no choice 😉
You can really see the fire ring on the map. Being surrounded by mountains is no big deal to me, but the fact that yours are volcanoes is scary. Our closest volcano is in Yellowstone National Park, which is a few hundred miles away. We’ve been told if it ever blows it’ll take out everything, including us. Also, it’s overdue.
I know that volcano. I think the theory of when it blow it’ll take everything is when the eruption is so big, but mild eruption might not cause such a thing…but that’s just my opinion.
I don’t think the geysers count. So it’s just building and building.
Just heard an interview saying that Mount Toba is the one to be worried the most as it could wipe civilization, Yellowstone is also dangerous but Toba is the biggest concern.