Anak Krakatau Erupts Again, The Geological Agency Of The Ministry Of Energy And Mineral Resources Decides Not To Raise Its Status To Level 3

Illustration. (Photo: Doc. Antara)

JAKARTA - Head of the Geological Agency of the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources (ESDM) Budi Lelono decided not to raise the status of Mount Anak Krakatau (GAK) from the Alert level to Alert level. According to him, from the results of monitoring and evaluation, there is still no need to improve the status because a thorough evaluation of the data will still be carried out.

"Currently, we are evaluating that there is no need for an increase in status and the team is still conducting a thorough data evaluation to estimate potential hazards in the future," Budi said at a press conference regarding the Current Condition of Mount Anak Krakatau's activity, Wednesday, February 9.

Regarding the relationship between the activities of Mount Anak Krakatau and the recent Banten earthquake, Budi said there was no relationship between the two because the Banten earthquake was purely a tectonic earthquake.

"Based on the overpressure condition in GAK, this had occurred before the Banten earthquake," he said.

Responding to public concerns regarding the similarities between the eruptions of Mount Tonga and Mount Krakatau, Budi also explained that there were indeed similarities in character between the two mountains, but he confirmed that from the monitoring carried out, the possibility of an eruption and tsunami occurring was very small.

"Because the volume of magma intrusion in GAK is not large at this time and historically, GAK landslides occur when the peak height exceeds 300 meters above sea level," he said.

Mount Tonga is one of the most active underwater volcanoes, which is located off the South Pacific coast of the island of Tonga and erupted on January 15, after the explosion of this volcanic eruption destroyed the sea surface crater and drowned its mass.

Regarding GAK's recent activities, Head of the Center for Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation (PVMBG) Andiani said that he had erupted 2 times in a row on Monday 7 February.

"At first the smoke from the crater began to appear before February 3, but the smoke from the crater was not continuous," he explained

He also asked the public not to be consumed by fake news circulating and whose sources were unknown.

To monitor GAK's activities, Budi Lelono said that his party had sent an emergency response team to evaluate the data comprehensively and continue to coordinate with BMKG and the Regional Disaster Management Agency.