Mount Ciremai closed to public: Kuningan Regent

Nana Rukmana The Jakarta Post Kuningan, West Java

Government authorities in Kuningan regency declared here on Monday that the area around Mount Ciremai was closed to the public, following the increased activity of the volcano.

Kuningan regent Arifin Setiamihardja said he made the announcement -- that the surrounding area of Mount Ciremai was closed -- after consulting with the state-owned forestry firm Perhutani and the Ciremai Observation Post in the area. Perhutani owns and oversees much of the land near Mount Ciremai.

"Based on our consultation with those institutions, we declare that the area is closed to the public, meaning that people are not allowed to be in the area without authorization, including mountain climbers," Arifin said.

Maman Sukirman, an officer from the Ciremai Observation Post, said that they had recorded several small tremors on Friday, but their intensity increased on Sunday.

"We recorded 18 tremors on Sunday, and one of them was equal to 2.0 on the Richter scale," he told The Jakarta Post.

He said that residents from at least seven subdistricts in the Cilimus and Pesawahan districts could feel the largest of the tremors.

However, Maman said that the residents, who lived below the slopes of the mountain, should not worry about the earth shaking too much more than that and that it was not strong enough to damage buildings.

Separately, Minister of Social Affairs Bachtiar Chamsyah told reporters that the ministry was closely monitoring the development on Mount Ciremai, and it was ready to distribute aid immediately to people, should they need it.

He said that he had ordered social and welfare offices at the West Java provincial administration to be ready to help local residents if Mount Ciremai erupted.

"We are always on alert in order to react to natural disasters, and we are ready to distribute aid," Bachtiar said in Bandorasa Wetan subdistrict, Cilimus district.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources beefed up its monitoring at Mount Ciremai, and deployed two additional officers to the Ciremai Observation Post.

The monitoring of the mountain was increased after Sunday's activity, said Iyus Rushana, who was accompanied by two other officers at the post, Didi Suryadi and Maman Sukirman.

Mount Ciremai is 3,078 meters (just over 10,000 feet) above sea level is the highest mountain in West Java province.

The mountain has been quiet for decades. The last eruption occurred in 1938.