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Resty Woro Yuniar

The eruption of Anak Krakatoa in Indonesia has tested the country’s disaster preparedness, disrupting nearly 3,000 flights carrying more than 340,000 passengers as volcanic ash spread across the region.
Authorities say they are monitoring the volcano, which remains under the country’s second-highest alert status. According to scientists, the event’s exceptional scale makes its impact hard to anticipate.
The eruption has renewed debate on whether Indonesia’s monitoring and disaster planning can be strengthened.
On Friday, the volcano, situated on the Sunda Strait between the islands of Java and Sumatra, started its 25-hour “continuous” eruption, according to the Geological Agency.
The agency this week said the probability of further eruptions from Anak Krakatoa in the near future “remains high”, as the volcano could eject “incandescent rocks accompanied by heavy ashfall” as well as “lava flows”.
Volcanic ash reached as high as 50,000 feet (15,240 metres) on Monday, meteorological agency BMKG said.

Jakarta’s principal airport Soekarno-Hatta resumed operations on Tuesday, alongside seven other air hubs whose operations were previously halted due to volcanic ash. As of Monday afternoon, a total of 2,961 flights and 341,000 passengers were affected by the halted airport operations, including 622 international flights, according to Indonesia’s Transport Ministry.
Indonesians have taken to social media to vent frustration over what many perceive as a sluggish official response.
The Geological Agency had placed the volcano under siaga, or alert level 3, the second-highest warning status, since early July. In a viral social media post on Sunday, a user pointed to the alert and said: “So if you say that it can’t be predicted, that’s clearly a big mistake.”
Many were also frustrated by skyrocketing prices for protective N95 masks on major e-commerce platforms, which officials have recommended using as thick volcanic dust settled over cities like Jakarta and Bandung. According to one social media user, the price of a box of 35 N95 masks, usually priced at 34,500 rupiah (US$2), has increased to 120,000 rupiah.
President Prabowo Subianto said in a statement on Sunday that the government “continues” to monitor the situation and would “provide the necessary protection and assistance to the community”.
“To people affected by volcanic ash, [I urge] them to wear masks or respiratory protection, reduce outdoor activities if the ash is thick enough, and follow the instructions of health officials and local governments,” he said.

‘Easier to predict than earthquakes’
Disaster mitigation experts suggest that robust contingency plans should be activated well before ash clouds paralysed Indonesia’s key transport hubs.
“If the status is at ‘alert’, preparations must be made to assess what to do if an eruption occurs. These include evacuation routes, maps, signs, and even drills. We should be able to estimate which communities will be affected and to what extent,” said Dwikorita Karnawati, a professor in earth sciences and geology at the Gadjah Mada University.
“Volcanoes are easier to predict than earthquakes. We can’t predict when, what month, or what year an earthquake will occur. But with volcanoes, we can predict [the eruption] from the increase in magmatic activity. Anak Krakatoa has erupted many times. We should already have empirical information about it.”
Dwikorita said officials’ response to Anak Krakatoa eruptions “could be improved”, including by installing better “technology and human resources” to monitor the volcano’s activities.
Erma Yulihastin, a climatology and climate change expert at the National Research and Innovation Agency, however, said that scientists could not map out the extent of volcanic ash before eruptions. Anak Krakatoa’s eruptions this time were also considered “larger and far more extensive” than previous eruptions, she said.
“Satellite data showed the volcanic ash column reaching into the tropopause, with ash plumes spreading west, up to 841km [522 miles], which is the distance between the Sunda Strait and Surabaya,” Erma said.
Erma suggested that once a volcano’s status was increased to level 3, “monitoring of its activity should be increased more frequently, such as once every three hours, up from the standard once every six hours”.
Titan Roskusumah, a spokeswoman with the Geological Agency, did not immediately respond to questions sent by This Week in Asia.

Japan’s example
Dwikorita, a former head of BMKG, said Indonesia’s multi-agency approach posed a hurdle in the country’s general disaster response, including during the Anak Krakatoa eruptions.
“In Japan, their disaster characteristics are similar to those of Indonesia’s, which are volcanoes, earthquakes, and tsunamis. But in Japan, a single agency manages all of it under the Japan Meteorological Agency,” Dwikorita said.
In Indonesia, disaster monitoring is split across multiple units. Volcanic activity is monitored by the Centre for Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation under the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources’ Geological Agency, while seismic or tsunami hazards are monitored by BMKG.
According to Dwikorita, as of 2024, inter-agency data sharing had been plagued by technical problems, including incomplete situational data and locational points.
“It would be easier if the agency managing volcanoes was unified with the one handling earthquakes and tsunamis, like in Japan. There wouldn’t be issues of waiting for data to arrive because it would be managed together,” she said.
Erma urged officials to improve the country’s multi-hazard maps, a protocol recommended by the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction to map out various types of hazards or natural disasters in a particular area.
“In Indonesia, multi-hazard maps are typically fixed, but they need to be updated every six months and completed with risks that a region could face, in terms of human and ecological loss, when a disaster strikes,” Erma said.
Officials could follow the example of the Japanese government, which had created multi-hazard maps for each region, including using leaflets with large images, “making them easy to read for the elderly or those who aren’t internet savvy”, she said.


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Indonesia knew a volcano was erupting. Could it have prepared better?

Mount Krakatoa in the Sunda Strait, South Lampung,  spews smoke and volcanic ash during an eruption. Photo: AFP/Indonesia’s Centre for Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation

Stranded passengers wait to request refunds at Soekarno-Hatta airport in Tangerang on Sunday after scheduled flights were cancelled following the eruption of Anak Krakatoa. Photo: AFP

A man clears volcanic ash from his car in Serang, Indonesia, following the eruption of Anak Krakatoa on Sunday. Photo: AFP

An official works on a seismometer during the eruption of Anak Krakatoa in Serang, Indonesia, on Sunday. Photo: AFP

Mount Krakatoa in the Sunda Strait, South Lampung, remains under Indonesia’s second highest alert status. Photo: AFP/Indonesia’s Centre for Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation

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An expert advises Jakarta to take steps such as announcing evacuation routes and releasing maps following a pre-eruption alert


An expert advises Jakarta to take steps such as announcing evacuation routes and releasing maps following a pre-eruption alert.


Indonesia knew a volcano was erupting. Could it have prepared better?

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}An expert advises Jakarta to take steps such as announcing evacuation routes and releasing maps following a pre-eruption alert

An expert advises Jakarta to take steps such as announcing evacuation routes and releasing maps following a pre-eruption alert