Thousands of residents on Thursday rejected an evacuation order issued by authorities in eastern Indonesia, despite the repeated eruptions of Mount Ibu, saying they are used to such a situation.
Only around 500 residents of the village closest to the volcano have been evacuated since Wednesday evening, local authorities said.
Mount Ibu, located on the island of Halmahera in the North Moluccas province, to the east of the vast archipelago, erupted on Wednesday, sending a column of smoke four kilometers high into the sky.
The Indonesian Geological Agency therefore raised the alert level of the volcano to the highest threshold in its system of four, which led local authorities to call on the 3,000 inhabitants living nearby to evacuate.
“So far, only one village has been evacuated, while residents of the remaining five villages have refused to evacuate,” said Irfan Idrus, spokesperson for the local disaster management agency.
The 517 evacuees were to be taken to a safe area in two villages, located nine kilometers from the danger zone. “Evacuation shelters have been prepared by the local administration,” said Mr. Irfan.
Residents who chose to stay argued that they were used to Mount Ibu's eruptions, he added.
“We will continue to coordinate our efforts with local officials and community leaders to ensure that residents of the five villages are evacuated as they are in the exclusion zone,” Irfan said.
According to an AFP journalist on site, residents were still going about their daily activities in their respective villages while trucks were preparing for evacuation.
-“Accustomed to eruptions”
“We are used to Mount Ibu erupting and so far there has been no impact on our village. That is why we do not want to be evacuated,” said Milka Sehe, a resident of Todoke village. , aged 43.
In the village of Tuguis, Rista Tuyu hopes that the volcano will calm down soon so that the village can resume its daily life.
“Of course, there is a certain fear and a certain worry, but we are used to eruptions here,” says the 32-year-old young woman.
“But the most important one appeared this week,” she says.
Indonesia, a vast archipelago located along the Pacific Ring of Fire, experiences frequent seismic and volcanic activity.
Volcanic activity on Mount Ibu, on an island where some 700,000 inhabitants live, has accelerated since June, after a series of earthquakes. The volcano has erupted nine times since the start of 2025.
Residents living nearby and tourists were urged to avoid a five- to six-kilometer exclusion zone around the volcano's summit and to wear masks in case of ashfall.
Last November, Mount Lewotobi Laki-Laki, on the tourist island of Flores, about 800 km from Bali, erupted more than a dozen times in a week, killing nine and injuring 31 and forcing 11,000 people to be evacuated.
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