Earthquake Alert Awu Governor, 5 Km Radius Urged No Visitors Enter

The point of the earthquake was Gubung Awu. (ANTARA)

JAKARTA - The Center for Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation (PVMBG) raised the status of Mount Awu in Sangihe Islands Regency, North Sulawesi, from being alert or level II to being on alert or level III. "The activity level of Mount Awu has been raised from level II (alert) to level III (standby), starting April 16, 2024 at 18.00 WITA," said PVMBG Head Hendra Gunawan in a statement received in Jakarta, quoted from ANTARA, Wednesday, APRIL 17. Hendra appealed to the level of activity of Mount Awu, which is now on standby, PVMBG recommends that people and visitors or tourists do not enter and do not move within the five-kilometer radius of the crater center of Mount Awu.

He said that during the last two weeks of the period from April 1-15, 2024, the seismicity of Mount Awu was dominated by shallow volcanic earthquakes and deep volcanic earthquakes. PVMBG data recorded 1 low-frequency earthquake, 284 shallow volcanic earthquakes, 71 times deep volcanic earthquakes, 14 times local tectonic earthquakes, and 252 times distant tectonic earthquakes. On March 1, 2024 to March 16, 2024, PVMBG monitored the deformation using the tilmeters at Kolongan Station and Puncak Station. The results of the monitoring showed inflation or increased pressure. "From the results of visual observations, seismicity and deformation, magma intrusion at the depths towards the surface is still recorded instrumentally. This is indicated by the emergence of deep volcanic and shallow volcanic earthquakes," said Hendra. According to him, the emergence of large-intensity local tectonic earthquakes could also trigger an increase in the volcanic activity of Mount Awu. Hendra asked to be aware of earthquake events with large and continuous energy that could potentially break down the lava dome and result in explosive eruption.

The increase in shallow earthquakes of Mount Awu has been going on for a long time which shows the occurrence of a pressure accumulation process at a shallow depth that can trigger explosive eruptions on a large scale. According to Hendra, an increase in seismicity can also be seen from the baseline of earthquake energy (RSAM) for the period July 2023 to April 16, 2024, which is higher than the baseline for earthquake energy in the period December 1, 2021 to September 9, 2022, namely during the period of the crisis of Mount Awu in 2022.