Mount Semeru Eruption Lontarkan Abu Volcanic As High As 800 Meters

Mount Semeru erupted with volcanic ash as high as 800 meters above the peak on Monday (12/8/2024) at 05.21 WIB. (ANTARA/HO-PVMBG)

JAKARTA - Mount Semeru, which is on the border of Lumajang and Malang Regencies, East Java, has again erupted by throwing volcanic ash as high as 800 meters above the peak.

"There was an eruption of Mount Semeru on Monday, August 12, 2024, at 05.21 WIB with a column of ash height of approximately 800 meters above the peak or about 4,476 meters above sea level (masl)," said the officer of the Mount Semeru Observation Post, Sigit Rian Alfian, as reported by ANTARA, Monday, August 12.

According to him, the column of volcanic ash was observed to be white to gray with thick intensity to the west. The eruption was recorded on a seismograph with a maximum amplitude of 22 mm and a duration of 97 seconds.

Based on a 24-hour earthquake observation report on Sunday (11/8/2024), Mount Semeru recorded 79 eruption/eruption earthquakes with an amplitude of 10-23 mm and an earthquake length of 61-162 seconds, then five avalanches with an amplitude of 3-6 mm and an earthquake of 46-112 seconds.

Furthermore, 18 gust earthquakes with an amplitude of 2-8 mm, seven harmonics with an amplitude of 2-5 mm and an earthquake of 103-1216 seconds, and four distant tectonic earthquakes.

Sigit explained that the status of Mount Semeru at the status level of Mount Semeru is still at Level II or Alert, so that the Center for Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation (PVMBG) provides a number of recommendations, namely that people are prohibited from carrying out any activity in the southeast sector along Besuk Kobokan, as far as eight km from the summit (the center of the eruption).

Then outside of that distance, he continued, people are not allowed to carry out activities at a distance of 500 meters from the riverbank (river border) along Besuk Kobokan, because it has the potential to be affected by the expansion of hot clouds and lava flows up to a distance of 13 km from the summit.

The community is also not allowed to move within a three km radius of the crater/peak of Mount Semeru because it is prone to the danger of throwing stones (pijar).

In addition, it is necessary to be aware of the potential for hot clouds, lava avalanches, and lahars along rivers/valleys that originate at the peak of Mount Semeru, especially along Besuk Kobokan, Besuk Bang, Besuk Kembar, and Besuk Sat, as well as the potential for lahars in small rivers that are tributaries of Besuk Kobokan.