Mount Papandayan is a complex stratovolcano, located in West Java, Indonesia. At the summit, there are four large craters, and it contains active fumarole fields. The 1772 eruption caused collapse of the NE flank, producing a catastrophic debris avalanche that destroyed 40 villages and killed nearly 3000 persons. It truncated the volcano into a broad shape with two peaks and a flat 1.1 km wide of
alun-alun crater in the middle, making it look like a twin volcano. One of the peaks is called Papandayan and the other is Mount Puntang.
Since 1772, only small phreatic eruptions had occurred prior to an explosive eruption that began in November 2002.
View on top of the Papandayan volcano in 1998. © Hullie under Creative Commons
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