Alarm sounded on Mt. Ciremai after series of tremors

Alarm sounded on Mt. Ciremai after series of tremors

Nana Rukmana, The Jakarta Post, Kuningan, West Java

Government authorities in the densely populated Kuningan regency
have put thousands of residents living on the slopes of Mount
Ciremai here on alert in case of a possible eruption.

The announcement was made after several earth tremors occurred
in the area of the volcano, an official has said.

Didi Suryadi, an official with the Ministry of Energy and
Mineral Resources, said that the volcano's status had been upped
from active normal to alert recently, after there were several
tremors in the volcano area.

"The latest quakes occurred on Thursday. There were four,"
Didi told The Jakarta Post on Friday at his Ciremai observation
post in Sampora subdistrict, located on the slopes of Mt.
Ciremai.

However, Didi said that for the time being, he did not see any
urgency for people living on the slopes to take refuge in safer
places, as the intensity of the tremors was still small. "But,
people should prepare for the worst," he said.

According to Didi, the last eruption occurred in 1938.

Meanwhile, an alert status has been imposed in seven districts
in Kuningan regency and another district in Majalengka regency.

All eight districts, which are home to thousands of people,
are located on the slopes of Mt. Ciremai, which is 3,078 meters
above sea level.

Slamet Hermansyah, the spokesman of Kuningan regency
administration, urged people to remain calm, despite the alert.

Meanwhile, local residents said that they had not yet received
notification from the government of the alert status.

"We have not heard anything from either the district or
regency administrations," said Yanto Riyanto, 29, the resident of
Setianegara subdistrict in Cilimus district, Kuningan regency.

A similar account was voiced by Eni, 45, a resident of
Cibereum subdistrict in Cilimus, Kuningan and also Dendi
Rustandi, 28, a resident with Cibuntu subdistrict in Pesawahan
district, Kuningan regency.

However, the three admitted that tremors had jolted their
subdistricts in the past few days.

They did not worry about the situation, because small
earthquakes often occur in the area, they said.

They further said that residents on the slopes of the mountain
were not affected by the increased activity of the volcano and
were carrying on with their normal activities.

Indonesia has the world's highest density of volcanoes with
500 located within the "belt of fire" along the 3,000-mile-long
archipelago. Of these, 128 are active and 65 are listed as
dangerous.