Java

Jakarta (VNA) – Indonesia ‘s most active volcano Mount Merapi erupted twice on March 22, spewing hot clouds as far as 1,500 meters to the southwest, according to the Geological Disaster Technology Research and Development Centre.

The centre’s head Hanik Humaida said the first eruption occurred at 2:03 am (local time) for 134 seconds with an amplitude of 40 mm. The first hot clouds rolled up to 1,300 meters to the southwest. The second came at 5:11 am for 150 seconds with an amplitude of 48 mm, belching ash clouds as far as 1,500 meters to the southwest.

Besides, during 00:00 to 6:00 am, Merapi also released incandescent lava five times as far as 1,000 meters to the southwest.

“Currently, the activity of Mount Merapi is still at the third-highest level,” added Humaida.

Areas which are potentially dangerous are several rivers where lava and hot clouds are flowing in the south-southwest sector such as the Kuning, Boyong, Bedog, Krasak, Bebeng, and Putih Rivers, as well as Gendol River in the southeast side.

Indonesian authorities urged residents or tourists not to move to these dangerous areas.

Located in borders of Central Java and Yogyakarta provinces, the volcano ‘s violent eruption killed more than 200 people and forced hundreds of thousands to flee their homes in 2010./.

VNA

Jakarta (VNA) – Indonesia ’s transport ministry said on March 31 it had recovered the cockpit voice recorder (CVR) of a Sriwijaya Air jet that crashed into the Java Sea shortly after take-off on January 9, killing all 62 people on board.

A navy spokesman, La Ode Muhamad Holib , told Reuters that the CVR was found on March 31.

Divers found the casing and beacon of the CVR from the 26-year-old Boeing Co 737-500 within days of the crash but had spent nearly three months searching for the memory unit.

A preliminary report by investigators into the Sriwijaya crash said the plane had an imbalance in engine thrust that eventually led the plane into a sharp roll and then a final dive into the sea.

That report included information from the plane’s other “black box”, the flight data recorder, which was recovered soon after the crash. The CVR could help investigators understand the actions taken by the pilots./.

VNA

Jakarta  (VNA) – At least six people were reported dead after a 6.0-magnitude earthquake hit Java island in Indonesia on April 10.

The Indonesia National Disaster Management Agency ( BNPM )’s spokesperson Raditya Jati said that one person was seriously injured, while local residents in some villages in East Java were forced to evacuate.

The earthquake was 82km deep offshore Java, about 45km southwest of Malang city.

The same day, a 6.1-magnitude quake rocked Davao Occidental province in the southern region of Philippines.

According to the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs), the quake, which struck at 5:30 pm local time, hit at a depth of 314 km, about 148 kilometers southwest to Sarangani town.

The quake will trigger aftershocks but will not cause damage, said Phivolcs.

The tremor was also felt in Alabel town in Sarangani province as well as in the Mindanao region.

Indonesia and the Philippines have frequent seismic activity due to their locations along the Pacific “Ring of Fire.”

In December 2004, a 9.1-magnitude shook Indonesia’s Sumatra coast, killing 220,000 people, including 170,000 Indonesians.

On January 15, 2021, a 6.2-magnitude quake killed over 90 people, injured more than 820 others and forced about 28,000 people in Majene district and Mamuju city in West Sulawesi province to flee home. Another quake hit the country’s North Sulawesi on January 21./.

VNA

Malaysia has so far confirmed a total of 336,808 cases positive for SARS-CoV-2, including 1,246 deaths. As many as 320,925 patients have recovered, making up 95.3 percent.

Out of the active 14,700 patients, 161 need treatment in intensive care units and 73 are in need of breathing support.

In Indonesia, the number of COVID-19 cases rose by 5,227 within one day to 1,476,452, with the death toll adding by 118 to 39,983.

West Java remained the largest COVID-19 hotspot in Indonesia, recording 1,329 new cases in the past 24 hours. It was followed by Jakarta 890, Central Java 403, East Java 289 and East Kalimantan 275.

Meanwhile, the Philippines’ Ministry of Health announced on March 24 that the total number of SARS-CoV-2-positive cases in the country reached 684,311 after it recorded an additional 6,666 new infections in the previous 24 hours. The death toll increased by 47 to 13,039.

Amid the complicated developments of the pandemic, the Philippines is working to accelerate the COVID-19 vaccination programme. The Southeast Asian country has licensed the vaccine of China’s Sinovac pharmaceutical company, the vaccine of the US’s Pfizer, AstraZeneca of the UK and Sputnik V from Russia.

The Philippine government aims to vaccinate 70 million people this year to achieve herb immunity, with priority given to health workers, the elderly and poor communities.

Source: VNA