Mount Merapi Vomits 148 Lava Falls In The Last Week

Mount Merapi on the border of DI Yogyakarta and Central Java. (Between)

YOGYAKARTA - Mount Merapi, which is located on the border of Central Java and the Special Region of Yogyakarta, launched 148 lava avalanches to the southwest in a week from July 26 to August 1, 2024.

Head of the Geological Disaster Technology Research and Development Center (BPPTKG) Agus Budi Santoso said that 148 lava avalanches slid upstream of Bebeng River as far as a maximum of 1,800 meters.

"The sound of avalanches was heard 10 times from the Kaliurang Post and Babadan Post with small to moderate intensity," Agus said in a report received in Yogyakarta, Sunday, August 4, which was confiscated by Antara.

In addition to lava avalanches, he said, Merapi also launched one hot cloud of avalanches upstream of Bebeng River with a sliding distance of 1,000 meters.

BPPTKG noted that lava avalanches this week increased 22 times from the previous week in the period 19-25 July 2024. At that time, lava avalanches were recorded to have appeared 126 times to the upper reaches of Bebeng River as far as 1.9 kilometers.

Agus said the morphology of the southwest dome was observed due to changes in the growth activity of domes, lava avalanches and hot clouds avalanches, while the morphology of the middle dome was relatively fixed.

Meanwhile, based on air photo analysis, the volume of the southwest dome was measured at 2,538,700 cubic meters and the central dome was 2,360,700 cubic meters.

The intensity of Merapi's seismicity over the past week, according to him, was higher than the previous week.

This week, Mount Merapi was recorded to have experienced one hot cloud earthquake, 30 shallow volcanic earthquakes, 114 multi-phase earthquakes, three low-frequency earthquakes, 735 avalanches, and four tectonic earthquakes.

The deformation of Mount Merapi, which was monitored using EDM this week, shows a shortening distance of 0.8 cm per day.

BPPTKG still maintains the Alert status or Level III set since November 2020. The current potential hazards are in the form of lava avalanches and hot clouds falling, namely in Woro River as far as 3 km from the summit, and Gendol River as far as 5 km from the summit.

In addition, the potential danger is also in Kali Boyong as far as 5 km from the summit, as well as Bedog River, Krasak, Bebeng as far as 7 km from the summit. Meanwhile, the ejection of volcanic material in the event of an explosive eruption can reach a radius of 3 km from the summit.