Mount Semeru Erupts With An Eruption As High As 400 Meters On Friday Night

JAKARTA - Mount Semeru on the border of Lumajang Regency and Malang, East Java, erupted again with an eruption as high as 400 meters above the peak.

"There was an eruption of Mount Semeru on Friday, January 17, 2025, at 19.09 WIB with an eruption column height of about 400 meters above the peak or 4.076 meters above sea level -mdpl-," said Mount Semeru Observation Post Officer Yadi Yuliandi as reported by ANTARA, Friday, January 17.

According to him, the ash column was observed to be gray with moderate intensity to the northeast. The eruption was recorded on a seismograph with a maximum amplitude of 22 mm and a duration of 137 seconds.

Based on officer data, the mountain, which has a height of 3,676 meters above sea level, was recorded as having erupted 17 times on Friday with the first eruption occurring at 00.31 WIB.

The latest eruption occurred at 19.09 WIB with an eruptive column height ranging from 400 meters to 800 meters above the peak.

Yadi said Mount Semeru is still on Alert status, so the Center for Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation (PVMBG) provides a number of recommendations, namely that people are prohibited from carrying out any activity in the southeast sector along Besuk Kobokan as far as eight kilometers from the summit (the center of the eruption).

Then outside of that distance, people are not allowed to 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 13 kilometers from the summit.

"People are also not allowed to move within a radius of 3 kilometers from the crater/peak of Mount Semeru, because they are prone to the dangers of throwing incandescent stones," he said.

In addition, he continued, the public also needs to be aware of the potential for hot clouds, lava avalanches, and rain lava along rivers/valleys that originate at the peak of Mount Semeru.

Especially as long as Besuk Kobokan, Besuk Bang, Besuk Kembar, and Besuk Sat, as well as the potential for lahars in small rivers which are tributaries of Besuk Kobokan.