Volcanoes

The Indonesian Archipelago is part of the circum-pacific ring,often referred to as the "Ring of Fire", where more than 50 % of the world's volcanoes are located. Indonesia has 76 volcanoes that have erupted in historic time - the largest number for any volcanic region. These volcanoes have had at least 1,171 eruptions, placing Indonesia second (after Japan) for the region with the most dated eruptions.
Indonesia has had the highest number of eruptions that:

The following list gives an overview about some of the most disastrous eruption in historical times:

Volcano
Year of eruption
Deaths
Major cause of deaths
Papandayan 1772 2,942 Pyroclastic flow
Tambora 1815 92,000 Starvation
Galunggung 1882 4,011 Mudflow
Krakatau 1883 36,417 Tsunami
Kelut 1919 5,110 Mudflow
Merapi 1930 1,369 Pyroclastic flow
Agung 1963 1,184 Pyroclastic flow

Today, modern observation techniques combined with early warning systems in many cases saved lives, but could not totally eliminate the risks arising from Indonesia's volcanoes:

1994: Before the eruption of Merapi, 5,500 people were evacuated. 66 people were killed in a pyroclastic flow.
1991: Due to the evacuation of 10,000 people during the eruption of Lokon-Empung on Sulawesi, casualties could be avoided.
1990: During the eruption of Kelut on Java 60,000 people were evacuated but there were 32 fatalities.
1988: No fatalities during the eruption of Makian. 15,000 people were evacuated.
1982: Although 75,000 people were evacuated during the eruption of Galunggung on Java, 68 people got killed.

The Directorate of Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation focuses on the observation of Indonesia's volcanoes in order to secure and improve established early warning systems.To contribute to a sustainable regional planning, many areas around high-risk volcanoes have been mapped and classified according to their status of danger.