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Unusual Historic Crises and Calamities

Khalid Elhassan April 16, 2020 34 min

26. The Hyperactive Mount Kelut

Glowing lava dome during a 2007 Mount Kelut eruption. Natural Disasters in Indonesia

Mount Kelut is one of the most active volcanoes on the island of Java, in today’s Indonesia. During the past millennium, it erupted more than 30 times. In just the 20^th century, it went off four times, and its latest eruption occurred as recently as 2014. Throughout most of its history, Kelut had a massive crater, which filled with rainwater to form a beautiful lake.

The lake was an attractive vacation destination, but during eruptions, the lake’s waters frequently led to devastating mud flows, or lahars. In 2007, seeping lava piled into a big mound at the center of the crater, which displaced most of the lake’s water.

Written by

Khalid Elhassan

A lifelong history buff, I developed a particular passion for WW2 history as a child, when I spent hours listening to my grandfather, enraptured, as he recounted his wartime experiences in the British East African Campaign and with the British 8th Army in North Africa.

I graduated with a history BA from George Mason University, then went on to get a JD from the University of Virginia School of Law. After lawyering for a decade, I moved to sunny Rio de Janeiro and a less demanding career, opening a tourism agency in Copacabana.

A big chunk of my free time is spent blogging (you can follow me on Quora https://www.quora.com/profile/Khalid-Elhassan ) or freelance writing, mostly about my favorite subject, history.