Mount Dempo Climbing Activities In Pagar Alam Closed After Eruption

The climbers camped to crowd the top courtyard of Mount Dempo, Pagar Alam City, South Sumatra (ANTARA)

JAKARTA - The peak climbing activity of Mount Dempo in Pagar Alam City, South Sumatra is temporarily closed for the next week starting today, Sunday, June 2 - June 8, 2024.

The closure of climbing activities was carried out on appeal from the Geological Agency of the Ministry of Energy, Mineral Resources (ESDM) due to the eruption of an earthquake in the crater of a volcano as high as 3,159 meters above sea level.

Head of the Mount Dempo Climbing Registration Center, Arindi, said that the public or tourists were prohibited from approaching and camping in the crater as centers of activity for Mount Dempo within a radius of 1 kilometer, as well as the direction of the crater opening as far as 2 kilometers to the north sector.

According to the geologist's analysis, this is because the crater as the center of the eruption is emitting gas that can be harmful to humans.

Nevertheless, Arindi said that both for the community and tourists who have/want to travel to Pagar Alam City, they are still allowed to carry out activities in the Afdeling IV village area which is the starting point for climbing, or local natural tourist destinations that are within a non-dangerous radius.

"It may be because it is outside a dangerous radius so it is safe to visit while still increasing vigilance," said Arindi, quoted by ANTARA, then mentioned this as the result of a coordination meeting between the UPTD Forest Management Unit (KPH) for the X Dempo area, the Regional Disaster Management Agency (BPBD), the SAR Office, the Pagar Alam City Tourism Office.

The head of the PVMBG Volcano team of the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources, Heruningtyas, revealed that the monitoring satellite at the Mount Dempo observation post recorded the eruption activity with visuals in the form of white to gray smoke emissions with a maximum height of 200 meters above the crater lake, Friday, May 31 at 03:58 WIB.

Similar activities previously occurred on 27 May 2024 at 04:06 WIB. At that time, the PVMBG team recorded an earthquake with a visual in the form of white to gray smoke emissions with a maximum height of 500 meters above the crater lake, and the eruption material reached a maximum distance of 300 meters from the crater center.

The PVMBG team has even recorded the activity of Mount Dempo starting on May 9, 2924, which found a change in the color of water in the crater lake from tosca green to gray, and a crater was seen emitting white smoke with thin intensity.

Furthermore, May 12, 2024, at 19:11 WIB, an earthquake was recorded with an amplitude of 30 mm for a duration of 45 seconds. Then the color of the crater lake water had changed from gray to Tosca green on May 15.

However, two days later or May 17, 2024, the color of the crater lake water was again observed to turn gray. PVMBG is still setting the status of Mount Dempo at level II or "Alert".