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Jakarta. People fleeing the ongoing eruption of Mount Sinabung in North Sumatra’s Karo district will have to remain in evacuation camps for now, as authorities refuse to downgrade the threat level and warn of more eruptions.

Government volcanologist Agus Budianto said on Tuesday that although the volcanic activity appeared to have decreased significantly since eruptions began early on Sunday, more eruptions were likely.

“Our instruments have recorded continuous tremors in the volcano, which means that there is magma pushing upward,” he said, adding that for people who lived closest to the volcano, the situation remained too precarious to go home.

“We think that there’s still a possibility that it will erupt again,” he said, adding there was no plan to downgrade the threat level immediately.

Airlines have been warned to avoid Mount Sinabung, but the area is remote and the ash cloud has caused minimal flight disruptions.

Meanwhile, Health Minister Endang Rahayu Sedyaningsih said on Tuesday that while the threat of disease was very real at the 21 evacuation camps in the area, she had not received reports of any outbreaks, despite Monday’s announcement by the Indonesian Red Cross (PMI) that diarrhea was already commonplace among the evacuees.

“In the first few days after a disaster, the most likely disease to start spreading is respiratory infection,” she said in Jakarta, adding that her ministry had sent 50,000 face masks to affected areas to prevent outbreaks.

“Health officials must also pay attention to babies and infants, because they tend to lose weight due to a lack of food when staying in evacuation camps for extended periods.”

Tjandra Yoga Aditama, the ministry’s director general for disease control and environmental health, said it had also sent skin and eye medication to treat irritation caused by the volcanic ash.

He added that silica and sulfur particles in the ash could exacerbate existing pulmonary conditions such as asthma, chronic bronchitis and emphysema, and warned that water sources and vegetation in the immediate vicinity of an eruption would likely be contaminated by the fallout.

Tjandra said the Health Ministry had established free medical posts at the evacuation camps and was working with specialists in North Sumatra to treat any acute cases of lung disease.

He added that all health risks could be minimized if hygiene and sanitation standards at the camps were strictly controlled.

“Ideally, it would be better for evacuees to move into their relatives’ homes outside the affected area rather than stay at the camps, so they won’t have to be cramped up with thousands of other people and risk catching a disease,” he said.

Meanwhile, aid groups said the distribution of much-needed supplies was proceeding smoothly.

The PMI had already handed out 21,000 face masks in the 15 affected villages in Karo district.

“We’re also sending mobile clinics from Medan to treat sick evacuees,” Dhika, the PMI’s North Sumatra coordinator, told the Jakarta Globe on Tuesday. “We also plan to set up public bathing and washing facilities.”

He said the PMI was working with local administrations, health agencies and disaster mitigation agencies, the police, the military, and civil society groups on the relief effort.

“The coordination is going well, and many of the evacuees have now received humanitarian aid,” Dhika said.

“However, we’re staying vigilant because the volcano is still categorized as dangerous. As a safety precaution, we’re sending five more PMI teams to the evacuation camps.”

The National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) said on Tuesday that a total of 28,756 people were known to have been evacuated from their homes in the affected zone. On Monday, the North Sumatra Search and Rescue Agency put the figure at 30,052.

BNPB spokesman Priyadi Kardono told the Globe that the BNPB had already distributed food, clothes, blankets and tents.

“The provincial administration has also contributed medical supplies, vitamin pills, baby food, biscuits, garbage bags and 39,000 face masks,” Priyadi said.

“We’re also warning residents about the potential for a secondary disaster; an overflow of lava.”

The 2,460-meter-high volcano, just 150 kilometers southwest of the provincial capital Medan, erupted early on Sunday after spewing clouds of ash since Thursday evening.

The area was rocked by another eruption at 6:30 a.m. on Monday that threw ash as high as two kilometers into the sky.

 

Additional reporting from AFP