Thursday Morning, Mount Ibu Malut Lontarkan Abu Volcanic Up To 5 KM

Volcanic ash clouds formed by the eruption activity enveloped the peak of Mount Ibu on Halmahera Island, North Maluku, Thursday (16/5/2024). (ANTARA

JAKARTA - The Center for Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation (PVMBG) recorded an eruption activity that ejected volcanic ash as high as approximately five kilometers above the peak of Mount Ibu located on Halmahera Island, North Maluku (Malut). The eruption that took place this morning took place at 09:58 WIT. The volcanic ash cloud with a thick gray intensity moved from north to northeast. "The seismograph recorded the eruption with a maximum amplitude of 28 millimeters and a duration of 354 seconds," said Mount Ibu Observation Post Officer Richard Chaniago, in a report quoted by ANTARA in Jakarta, Thursday, May 16. PVMBG published a Volcano Observation Notice for Aviation (VONA) warning with a red code for the North Maluku area. VONE services to notify pilots, carriers, air traffic managers, to meteorologists about the spread of volcanic ash for flight safety.

Mount Ibu is now on alert or level III since May 8, 2024. PVMBG has upgraded the status of the strato-type volcano due to increased volcanic activity and seismicity. Within eight days of being at the level of alert activity, Mount Ibu was recorded to have experienced three eruptions that produced ash clouds as high as five kilometers and once an eruption with ash columns reaching four kilometers. PVMBG recommends residents around Mount Ibu not to climb and approach the mountain within a three-kilometer radius and a sectoral expansion five kilometers to the crater opening in the northern part of the active crater. In the event of ash rain, residents who are active outside the home are advised to use a nose, mouth, and eye shield. For residents in Duono, Tukuoko, Goin, Togorebasu, Sangajinyeku, Toguis, Toyoke, and Borona who are more than four kilometers from the crater opening in the northern part must increase their vigilance while still complying with directions from the local government.

Mount Ibu has a height of 1,325 meters above sea level located northwest of Halmahera Island, North Maluku. The volcanic peak is a volcanic crater. The crater center has a width of one kilometer and a depth of 400 meters, while the outside has a width of 1.2 kilometers.