LUMAJANG, East Java (Bernama-ANTARA): Mount Semeru, located on the border of Lumajang and Malang Districts in East Java, Indonesia, spewed another eruption with an ash column reaching 800 metres into the sky on Wednesday morning, reported ANTARA news agency.
"Mount Semeru erupted on Wednesday, at 7.21 am local time. The eruption column was observed to be approximately 800 metres above the summit, or 4,476 metres above sea level," an officer at the Mount Semeru Observation Post, Sigit Rian Alfian, informed in a report on Wednesday.
Alfian noted that the ash column was observed to be white to gray in colour, with a thick intensity leaning towards the southwest and west. The eruption was recorded on a seismograph with a maximum amplitude of 18 millimetres and a duration of 75 seconds.
According to officials, the 3,676-metre-high mountain previously erupted three times on Wednesday, at 00.33 am and 1.20 am.
However, visual observations of these eruptions were not visible due to fog.
Meanwhile, the third eruption occurred at 5.38 am with an ash column observed approximately 700 metres above the summit, or 4,376 metres above sea level. The ash column was observed to be white to gray in colour with moderate intensity towards the southwest.
Alfian informed that Mount Semeru remains at Alert Status (Level II). Therefore, the Centre for Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation (PVMBG) has issued several recommendations: prohibiting the public from engaging in any activities in the southeastern sector, along Besuk Kobokan, eight kilometres from the summit (the eruption epicentre).
Beyond that distance, the public should not engage in activities within 500 metres of the riverbank along Besuk Kobokan, due to the potential for pyroclastic flows and lava flows up to 13 kilometres from the summit.
"The public is also advised not to engage in activities within a three-kilometre radius of the crater/peak of Mount Semeru, due to the risk of ejected incandescent rocks," he added.
He urged the public to remain vigilant of the potential for pyroclastic flows, lava avalanches, and cold lava flow along rivers and valleys that originate at the summit of Mount Semeru, especially along Besuk Kobokan, Besuk Bang, Besuk Kembar, and Besuk Sat, as well as the potential for cold lava flow in small rivers that are tributaries of Besuk Kobokan. - BERNAMA-ANTARA
