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TPI 10 Q1 2016 E ast Java Province–Indonesia's Mount Raung in East Java prov- ince, an active volcano about 150 kilometers (95 miles) from Bali's interna- tional airport, had been rumbling through- out June of last year. The level of activity increased in late June and on Friday, 3 July, the volcano erupted and blasted ash and debris 3,800 meters (12,460 ft.) into the air, putting people who live near the volcano on high alert as it spewed a plume of smoke together with incandes- cent cinder and lava. Authorities immediately set an ex- clusion zone of three kilometers from the peak, restricting all human activity within that perimeter. Government volca- nologist Gede Suantika said the eruption forced authorities to close five airports due to the risks posed by volcanic ash. The Transport Ministry ordered airlines to avoid routes near the volcano. The airport closures meant chaos for vacationers, es- pecially at tourist hotspot Bali, stranding thousands. Suantika said lava and the ash fall from the 3,332-meter (10,930 ft.) high mountain on Indonesia's most densely populated island made conditions difficult as the winds carried the ash northwest to Jember–the heartland of the Indonesian cigar leaf production region. Head of the Data and Information Center of the National Disaster Mitiga- tion Agency, Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said that Mount Raung's eruption was Strombolian, which is characterized by a relatively low-level volcanic eruption that includes the ejection of incandescent cinder as well as thin lava with medium pressured gases. The eruption was not too strong, Nugroho said, but it was a "continuous and long-lasting eruption." Mount Raung is just one of the active volcanoes on the Java Island. It is locat- ed at the border of the districts of East Java, notably Jember, Bondowoso and Banyuwangi. In the immediate aftermath of the eruption, the Association of Indo- nesian Tobacco Farmers (APTI), stated Mt. Raung Blast Craters Indonesian Tobacco Crop Regional disruption sparked by Mount Raung eruption » BY ATIK SUGIARTI, P. T. FAR EAST LEAF INDONESIA & DR. IQBAL LAMBAT, STAR TOBACCO INTERNATIONAL {Volcano Destroys Indonesian Crop} Volvanic ash from Mt. Raung clogged the pores, leaves and stalks of tobacco plants in Indonesia, effectively ruining the region's 2015 tobacco crop.