Indonesia keeps several airports closed though volcanic eruption is easing
Advertisement
Read this article for free:
or
Already have an account? Log in here »
To continue reading, please subscribe:
Digital Subscription
One year of digital access for only $1.44 a week*
- Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
- Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
- Access News Break, our award-winning app
- Play interactive puzzles
*Billed as $5.77 plus GST every four weeks. After 52 weeks, price increases to the regular rate of $19.95 plus GST every four weeks. Offer available to new and qualified returning subscribers only. Cancel any time.
To continue reading, please subscribe:
Add Free Press access to your Brandon Sun subscription for only an additional
$1 for the first 4 weeks*
- Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
- Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
- Access News Break, our award-winning app
- Play interactive puzzles
*Your next Brandon Sun subscription payment will increase by $1.00 and you will be charged $17.95 plus GST for four weeks. After four weeks, your payment will increase to $24.95 plus GST every four weeks.
Read unlimited articles for free today:
or
Already have an account? Log in here »
JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Indonesia extended the closure of several airports and shifted schools to remote learning in affected areas on Monday even though a volcanic eruption that has halted nearly 3,000 flights and coated areas with ash was subsiding.
The continuous, 25-hour eruption of Anak Krakatau that produced a fountain of lava and a boom heard 700 kilometers (435 miles) away ended Sunday, the country’s Geological Agency said. But it remained active Monday with moderate, intermittent eruptions, dark ash emissions and small, localized earthquakes.
Transportation Minister Dudy Purwagandhi said Monday that authorities decided to extend the temporary closure of seven airports until midnight from an earlier deadline of 6 p.m., despite improving conditions at some facilities. Previously, Atung Bungsu Airport in Pagar Alam, a city in South Sumatra province, resumed normal operations Monday morning.
“We are taking a conservative approach because wind direction is highly dynamic,” Purwagandhi said in a statement. “We want to ensure that volcanic ash has moved away from airports around Anak Krakatau.”
Although tests at several airports showed no traces of volcanic ash, operations will not resume until further assessments are completed, Purwagandhi said.
He said the extended closure would also allow airport operators and airlines to inspect and clean runways, taxiways, aprons and aircraft that may have been exposed to volcanic ash.
The government also authorized schools in areas affected by volcanic ash to shift temporarily to online learning to reduce students’ exposure to ash.
Anak Krakatau is a volcanic island in the Sunda Strait between Indonesia’s main islands of Java and Sumatra. Its name means “child of Krakatau,” and the volcano is the offspring of the infamous Krakatau, whose monumental 1883 eruption triggered a period of global cooling.
An eruption of Anak Krakatau in 2018 caused a tsunami that killed at least 430 people in Sumatra and Java.
Indonesia has more than 120 active volcanoes and frequently experiences eruptions due to its location along the Pacific “Ring of Fire,” the ring of seismic faults around the Pacific Ocean where most global seismic activity occurs.
