Mount Ibu In Halmahera Erupts, Lontarkan Abu Vulkanik As High As 800 Meters

The volcanic ash column soared as high as approximately 800 meters due to the eruption activity that occurred on Mount Ibu, North Maluku, Sunday (3/3/2024). (Between/HO-PVMBG)

JAKARTA - Mount Ibu, which is in the northwest of Halmahera Island, North Maluku Province, erupted and ejected volcanic ash as high as approximately 800 meters from the peak of the active volcanic crater.

Mount Ibu Observation Post officer, Axl Roeroe, said the eruption occurred this morning at 08.07 WIT with a column of thick ash heading south and southwest.

"The eruption was recorded on a seismograph with a maximum amplitude of 20 millimeters and a duration of 190 seconds," Roeroe said in a report received by Antara in Jakarta, Sunday.

The Center for Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation (PVMBG) appealed to the public to always be aware of the flow of lahars in rivers that originate at the top of Mount Ibu and always coordinate with local volcanic observation posts.

Mount Ibu is at level II or alert to the recommendations of the people around the volcano not to move within a 2 kilometer radius and to expand sectorally within 3.5 kilometers to the crater opening in the north of the active crater.

Mount Ibu is a volcano with a volcano strato type which has a height of 1,325 meters above sea level located northwest of Halmahera Island, North Maluku.

The top of the mountain is a volcanic crater. The crater center has a width of 1 kilometer and a depth of 400 meters, while the outer part has a width of 1.2 kilometers.

In 2023, Mount Ibu occupies the position of the two most active volcanic eruptions in Indonesia. The volcano experienced an eruption of 21,100 times.