Semeru Eruption 3 Times This Morning

Mount Semeru erupted with an eruption as high as 700 meters above the peak on Saturday (15/3/2025) morning. (ANTARA/HO-PVMBG)

JAKARTA - Mount Semeru, which has a height of 3,676 meters above sea level (masl), was recorded three times as an eruption with an eruption height of up to 800 meters above the peak on Saturday morning.

The first eruption occurred at 02.17 WIB with a column height of ash observed about 800 meters above the peak or 4,476 meters above sea level (masl).

The ash column was observed to be white to gray with thick intensity to the north and northeast and this eruption was recorded on a seismograph with a maximum amplitude of 22 mm and a duration of 184 seconds.

Then the second eruption occurred at 03.40 WIB with an eruptive column height of about 500 meters above the peak and a column of ash was observed to be white to gray with thick intensity to the north. The eruption was recorded on a seismograph with a maximum amplitude of 22 mm and a duration of 140 seconds.

"At 06.12 WIB, Mount Semeru erupted again with an eruption column height of about 700 meters above the peak or 4,376 meters above the peak," said Mount Semeru Observation Post Officer Yadi Yuliandi, as reported by ANTARA, Saturday, March 15.

According to him, the ash column was observed to be gray with moderate to thick intensity to the southwest and west. The eruption was recorded on a seismograph with a maximum amplitude of 22 mm and a duration of 135 seconds.

The Center for Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation (PVMBG) provides a number of recommendations related to the alert status of Mount Semeru, namely that people are prohibited from carrying out any activities in the southeast sector along Besuk Kobokan as far as eight kilometers from the summit (the center of the eruption).

Then outside of that distance, 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 kilometers from the summit.

"People are also not allowed to move within a radius of three kilometers from the crater/peak of Mount Semeru, because they are prone to the dangers of throwing incandescent stones," he said.

He said the public also needs to be aware of the potential for hot clouds, lava avalanches, and rain lava along rivers/valleys that originate at the top of Mount Semeru, especially along Besuk Kobokan, Besuk Bang, Besuk Kembar, and Besuk Sat, as well as the potential for lava in small rivers that are tributaries from Besuk Kobokan.