Ministry asks universities to help monitor Krakatau ash impact

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3 hours ago

Jakarta (ANTARA) – The Higher Education, Science, and Technology Ministry has instructed all universities to immediately mobilize their experts to help monitor the impact of Mount Anak Krakatau’s eruption on the public.

“We are calling on university leaders to mobilize experts, be they health, engineering, environmental, disaster handling, or psychology experts, to stay involved and monitor developments in this eruption,” Deputy Higher Education, Science, and Technology Minister Fauzan said in an online press conference here on Sunday.

Fauzan stressed that the involvement of experts and academicians is crucial for monitoring and responding to developments in the volcanic disaster in a measured manner.

In addition to deploying experts, the Ministry has also asked university leaders to mobilize aid urgently needed by the public and the academic community.

Fauzan said that as emergency response control centers, all campuses are required to immediately activate standby posts within their environments and coordinate with local governments.

Regarding efforts to protect the campus community, he confirmed that so far there have been no reports of fatalities or infrastructure damage at universities due to exposure to volcanic ash.

Nevertheless, he stressed, outdoor activities among the academic community must be minimized as much as possible.

“Office services, as well as learning processes and other academic activities, can be conducted online or in a hybrid format, or through whatever method is considered more effective, to reduce the occurrence of illness caused by the volcanic dust,” he said.

Fauzan specifically reminded universities to help curb the spread of hoaxes related to the disaster among the public.

He required all members of the academic community to base their analysis and actions on official government sources, through close coordination with the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB), the Meteorology, Climatology, and Geophysics Agency (BMKG), and the Center for Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation (PVMBG).