Mount Ili Lewotolok Today, 167 Eruptions Happened At The Peak

Illustration - A motorcyclist in the background of Mount Ili Lewotolok/ Antara

KUPANG - The Mount Ili Lewotolok Observation Post, in Lembata Regency, East Nusa Tenggara recorded 167 earthquake eruptions that occurred at the top of the mountain from 10-16 May 2022.

Head of the Mount Ili Lewotolok Monitoring Post, Stanis Ara Kian, in his report received by ANTARA in Kupang, Tuesday afternoon, said that in addition to the eruptive earthquake, there were also 381 gusts recorded at the top of the mountain.

"Until now, the earthquake at Mount Ile Lewotolok was still dominated by earthquakes related to the release of volcanic material to the surface, such as earthquake eruptions and earthquake gusts", he said as quoted by Antara, Tuesday, May 17.

Stanis said that continuous vibrations related to the movement of magma to the surface were still recorded, such as 55 harmonic tremors and 642 non-harmonic tremors. Meanwhile, internal volcanic earthquakes were recorded 15 times.

But he said when compared to last week, the earthquake that had erupted on November 29, 2022, experienced an increase in earthquake tremors.

He also said that visually the volcano was clearly visible until it was covered in fog. The smoke from the main crater is white to gray with a thin to thick intensity, about 50-1,000 meters above the peak.

"The eruption was observed to be white to gray in color with a column height of about 200-500 meters above the peak", he added.

Furthermore, he said, based on Electronic Distance Measurement (EDM) measurements this week, the measurement results fluctuated in the range of two centimeters cm, but during this period they tended to be flat/stable at LWT 1 and LWT 2.

He explained that the current potential danger is in the form of hurling rocks or incandescent lava in all directions within a three km radius from the summit or crater of Mount Ili Lewotolok.

Other potential hazards include toxic volcanic gases in the peak or crater area, and avalanches of weathered material from the peak area of stability are disturbed which can trigger hot clouds to occur in the Southeast-East sector.

"It rains ash if there is a large eruption, the distribution of which depends on the direction and speed of the wind, and the flow of lahars in the rivers that originate at the peak of Mount Ili Lewotolok during the rainy season", he added.

From these reports, Stanis concluded that the volcanic activity of Mount Ili Lewotolok is still high where eruptions still have the potential to occur.

The activity level is still at Level III or Standby since November 29, 2020. So that the public is advised to continue to follow the recommendations of the PVMBG and directives from the local government.