Press Release

U.S. Ambassador Cameron Hume Tours a Volcano Monitoring Station in Tomohon, North Sulawesi

Manado, North Sulawesi | Wednesday, May 13, 2009

TOMOHON, North Sulawesi -- United States Ambassador Cameron Hume and Mr. Sukhyar, head of Indonesia’s Geology Unit at the Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources, today toured a regional volcano monitoring station in Tomohon, North Sulawesi, to learn how eruptions are forecast and responses planned. The station, part of Indonesia’s Center of Volcanology and Geologic Hazard Mitigation (CVGHM), monitors six volcanoes on Sulawesi Isand and three on the neighboring Sangihe Talaud Islands. It was established and is maintained with support from the US Agency for International Development.

The visit came as four of Indonesia’s volcanoes, including Mt. Karangetang in North Sulawesi, are showing increased activity. In recent days the CVGHM has raised the alert level for the four volcanoes to a level three (of a possible four levels).

The Volcano Disaster Assistance Program (VDAP) is a joint effort of the U.S. Agency for International Development and the U.S. Geological Survey in partnership with the CVGHM to strengthen local volcano monitoring, mitigation, and response capacity in North Sulawesi. One result is that in the last two years the number of seismic stations monitoring volcanoes in North Sulawesi has increased from 4 to 13.  This has raised the quantity and quality of data on small volcano-related earthquakes that are precursors to eruptions and will allow CVGHM to forecast eruptions more accurately and quickly.

The Tomohon volcano monitoring station monitors five volcanoes on Sulawesi Island: Mt. Lokon, Mt. Mahwu, Mt. Tangkoko, Mt. Klabat, and Mt. Soputan; and three volcanoes on Sangihe Talaud Islands:  Mt. Karangetang, Mt. Awu and Mt. Ruang.

USAID has invested more than $700,000 annually in volcano monitoring and response and mitigation development since 2004, and is committed to continuing this effort.

For more information contact:  Roman Woronowycz

USAID Outreach and Communications
0812-106-3529
6221-3435-9424
rworonowycz@usaid.gov