Experts on edge as Indonesia's volcanoes rumble to life

By Ahmad Pathoni

JAKARTA (Reuters) - Indonesia's top volcano watcher, Surono, has had a frantic time in the past month. No fewer than four volcanoes on his watch have suddenly rumbled to life, giving the 52-year-old geophysicist and his staff many sleepless nights.

The head of Indonesia's Center for Vulcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation and his colleagues are keeping a close eye on the famous Anak Krakatau, or "Child of Krakatau," and on Java's Mount Kelud, which is particularly hard to monitor because of its crater lake.

Last week, Surono, who obtained his doctorate from France's Universite de Savoie and speaks French, decided to move his office temporarily from the peaceful hill-top city of Bandung in West Java to a monitoring post near Mount Kelud.

While Surono kept a close watch on Kelud, whose crater lake has turned from blue to white because of all the sulfur bubbling up from inside the volcano, some of his colleagues have been dispatched to the Sunda strait separating Java and Sumatra to monitor Anak Krakatau.

The island volcano is a popular tourist attraction, but now tourists have been told to stay away as Child of Krakatau is spewing ash. The volcano was gradually formed after its famous "parent" Krakatau blew up in a massive eruption in 1883, triggering tsunamis and killing thousands of people.

Alerts have also been issued for Mount Soputan, in North Sulawesi, which erupted last month spewing columns of ash 1,000 meters high, and Mount Karangetan off Sulawesi island.

"I have had many sleepless nights. But I have no complaints. This is my life choice and I have to take the risk," said Surono, who admits he has taken to catnapping in his car to catch up on lost sleep.

HIGH ENERGY