Our team was in Kajar Kunin, Indonesia, to see clean up efforts underway as the dust finally settled after the eruption of Java’s tallest volcano.

On December 4, Mount Semeru in East Java erupted. The volcano spewed a plume of smoke and hot volcanic ash 15km into the sky and lava engulfed several surrounding villages.

The government’s alert status, to indicate the danger level of the volcanic activity, was raised to its highest level; almost exactly one year on from a similar eruption which killed 51 people and displaced nearly 10,000.

This latest eruption caused 2400 residents to be evacuated from nearby villages. Officials announced a two week state of emergency in the region whilst authorities have been distributing face masks to protect displaced residents against ash and smoke inhalation.

This video illustrates how we validated the material we received in the aftermath of the eruption of Mount Semeru as local emergency services attempted to salvage the village of Kajar Kunin and residents returned home to collect some of their belongings.