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.