Indonesia’s Mt. Semeru Eruption Buries Homes, Damages Bridge

Rescuers walk in smoke from hot volcanic materials from the eruption of Mount Semeru at Kajar Kuning village, Lumajang, East Java, Indonesia, Monday, Dec. 5, 2022. (AP)
Rescuers walk in smoke from hot volcanic materials from the eruption of Mount Semeru at Kajar Kuning village, Lumajang, East Java, Indonesia, Monday, Dec. 5, 2022. (AP)
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Indonesia’s Mt. Semeru Eruption Buries Homes, Damages Bridge

Rescuers walk in smoke from hot volcanic materials from the eruption of Mount Semeru at Kajar Kuning village, Lumajang, East Java, Indonesia, Monday, Dec. 5, 2022. (AP)
Rescuers walk in smoke from hot volcanic materials from the eruption of Mount Semeru at Kajar Kuning village, Lumajang, East Java, Indonesia, Monday, Dec. 5, 2022. (AP)

Improved weather conditions Monday allowed rescuers to resume evacuation efforts and a search for possible victims after the highest volcano on Indonesia’s most densely populated island erupted, triggered by monsoon rains.

Mount Semeru in Lumajang district in East Java province spewed thick columns of ash more than 1,500 meters (nearly 5,000 feet) into the sky Sunday. Villages and nearby towns were blanketed with falling ash, blocking out the sun, but no casualties have been reported.

Hundreds of rescuers were deployed Monday in the worst-hit villages of Sumberwuluh and Supiturang, where houses and mosques were buried to their rooftops by tons of volcanic debris.

Heavy rains had eroded and finally collapsed the lava dome atop the 3,676-meter (12,060-foot) volcano, causing an avalanche of blistering gas and lava down its slopes toward a nearby river. Searing gas raced down the sides of the mountain, smothering entire villages and destroying a bridge that had just been rebuilt after a powerful eruption last year.

Semeru’s last major eruption was in December 2021, when it blew up with a fury that left 51 people dead in villages that were buried in layers of mud. Several hundred others suffered serious burns and the eruption forced the evacuation of more than 10,000 people. The government moved about 2,970 houses out of the danger zone, including from Sumberwuluh village.

Lumajang district chief Thoriqul Haq said villagers who are still haunted by last year's eruption fled on their own when they heard the mountain start to rumble early Sunday, so that “casualties could be avoided.”

“They have learned an important lesson on how to avoid the danger of eruption,” he said while inspecting a damaged bridge in Kajar Kuning hamlet.

He said nearly 2,000 people escaped to emergency shelters at several schools, but many were returned to their homes Monday to tend their livestock and protect their property.

Increased volcanic activity Sunday afternoon prompted authorities to widen the danger zone to 8 kilometers (5 miles) from the crater, and scientists raised the volcano’s alert level to the highest, said Hendra Gunawan, who heads the Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation Center.

People were advised to keep off the southeastern sector along the Besuk Kobokan River, which is in the path of the lava flow.

Semeru, also known as Mahameru, has erupted numerous times in the past 200 years. Still, as is the case with many of the 129 active volcanoes in Indonesia, tens of thousands of people continue to live on its fertile slopes.

Indonesia, an archipelago of more than 270 million people, sits along the Pacific “Ring of Fire,” a horseshoe-shaped series of fault lines, and is prone to earthquakes and volcanic activity.



UN Nuclear Chief in Tehran ahead of Fresh Iran-US Talks

IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi speaks during a press conference on the opening day of his agency's quarterly Board of Governors meeting in Vienna, Austria, March 3, 2025. REUTERS/Elisabeth Mandl
IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi speaks during a press conference on the opening day of his agency's quarterly Board of Governors meeting in Vienna, Austria, March 3, 2025. REUTERS/Elisabeth Mandl
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UN Nuclear Chief in Tehran ahead of Fresh Iran-US Talks

IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi speaks during a press conference on the opening day of his agency's quarterly Board of Governors meeting in Vienna, Austria, March 3, 2025. REUTERS/Elisabeth Mandl
IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi speaks during a press conference on the opening day of his agency's quarterly Board of Governors meeting in Vienna, Austria, March 3, 2025. REUTERS/Elisabeth Mandl

UN nuclear watchdog chief Rafael Grossi met the head of Iran's atomic energy agency, Mohammad Eslami, on Thursday ahead of a fresh round of nuclear talks between Tehran and Washington.

Iranian and US delegations are to gather in Rome on Saturday for a second round of Omani-mediated negotiations, a week after the longtime foes held their highest-level talks since US President Donald Trump abandoned a landmark nuclear accord in 2018, AFP said.

There were no immediate details on Grossi's meeting with Eslami, but Iran's reformist Shargh newspaper described his visit as "strategically significant at the current juncture".

On Wednesday, Grossi met with Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, who led the first round of talks with US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff on Saturday.

Araghchi said he had had a "useful" meeting with the International Atomic Energy Agency chief.

"The IAEA can play a crucial role in peaceful settlement of the Iranian nuclear file in the coming months," he said.

Araghchi called on the IAEA chief to "keep the agency away from politics" in the face of "spoilers" seeking to "derail current negotiations". He did not elaborate.

Grossi said their meeting was "important".

"Cooperation with IAEA is indispensable to provide credible assurances about the peaceful nature of Iran's nuclear program at a time when diplomacy is urgently needed," he said on X.

'Not far' from possessing bomb

Before heading to Iran, Grossi told French newspaper Le Monde that Tehran was "not far" from possessing a nuclear bomb.

Western governments have long accused Iran of seeking to acquire a nuclear weapons capability, an ambition Tehran has consistently denied.

A year after Trump pulled out of the 2015 nuclear deal, Iran began rolling back its own commitments under the agreement, which gave it relief from sanctions in return for IAEA-monitored restrictions on its nuclear activities.

In its latest report, the IAEA said Iran had an estimated 274.8 kilograms (605 pounds) of uranium enriched to up to 60 percent.

That level far exceeds the 3.67 percent enrichment ceiling set by the 2015 deal, but still falls short of the 90 percent threshold required for a nuclear warhead.

Since he returned to office in January, Trump has revived his "maximum pressure" policy of punishing economic sanctions against Iran.

In March, he sent a letter to Iran's supreme leader Ali Khamenei urging talks and warning of possible military action if Iran refused.

On Thursday, the New York Times reported that Trump had blocked an Israeli plan to strike Iranian nuclear facilities in favor of seeking a negotiated deal.

'Conflicting positions'

On Tuesday, Khamenei cautioned that while the talks with the United States had started well, they could yet prove fruitless.

"The negotiations may or may not yield results," he said.

On Wednesday, Araghchi said Iran's enrichment of uranium was not up for discussion after Witkoff called for a halt.

Witkoff had previously demanded only that Iran return to the 3.67 percent enrichment ceiling set by the 2015 deal.

Araghchi said he hoped to start negotiations on the framework of a possible agreement, but that this required "constructive positions" from the United States.

"If we continue to (hear) contradictory and conflicting positions, we are going to have problems," he warned.

On Thursday, Iran's top diplomat headed to Moscow on a "pre-planned" visit to the Tehran ally.

The Kremlin said that Russia stood ready to do "everything" in its power to help resolve the standoff over Iran's nuclear program.