Eruption Returns, Mount Semeru Launches Volcanic Ash As High As 600 Meters

JAKARTA - Mount Semeru erupted again with an eruption that ejected volcanic ash as high as 600 meters above the peak on Sunday, March 31.

"There was an eruption of Mount Semeru on Sunday, March 31, 2024, at 07.37 WIB with a height of about 600 meters above the peak or 4,276 meters above the peak," said Mount Semeru Observation Post Officer Sigit Rian Alfian in a written statement received in Lumajang.

According to him, the column of volcanic ash was observed to be white to gray with thick intensity to the west. The eruption was recorded on a seismograph with a maximum amplitude of 22 mm and a duration of 103 seconds.

Observations of the earthquake of Mount Semeru on Sunday at 06.00-12.00 WIB, recorded that the mountain with an altitude of 3,676 meters above sea level experienced eight eruptions/eruption earthquakes with an amplitude of 12-22 mm, and an earthquake of 74-133 seconds.

Then three gusts with an amplitude of 3-5 mm, and a long earthquake of 43-47 seconds, as well as two distant tectonic earthquakes with an amplitude of 8-13 mm, S-P 16-17 seconds and long earthquakes of 35-42 seconds.

Mount Semeru is still at Level III or on standby, so the Center for Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation (PVMBG) recommends that people should not carry out any activities in the southeast sector along Besuk Kobokan, as far as 13 km from the summit (the center of the eruption).

Beyond this distance, the community does not carry out activities at a distance of 500 meters from the riverbank (river border) along Besuk Kobokan because it has the potential to be affected by the expansion of hot clouds and lava flows up to a distance of 17 km from the summit.

The community is also not allowed to move within a 5 km radius of the crater/peak of Mount Semeru because it is prone to the danger of throwing stones (pijar).

It is also necessary to be aware of the potential for hot clouds, lava avalanches, and lahars along rivers/valleys that originate at the peak of the Semeru Volcano, especially along Besuk Kobokan, Besuk Bang, Besuk Kembar, and Besuk Sat as well as the potential for lahars in small rivers that are tributaries of Besuk Kobokan.