Mount Semeru erupts three times with ash plumes up to 1 kilometre
Lumajang, East Java (ANTARA) - Mount Semeru, located on the border of Lumajang and Malang regencies in East Java, erupted three times on Tuesday morning, with ash plumes reaching up to 1 kilometre above the summit.
The first eruption occurred at 05:45 local time, with the eruption column observed at approximately 600 metres above the summit and an ash plume grey in colour with thick intensity toward the southwest. The eruption was recorded on a seismograph with a maximum amplitude of 22 mm and a duration of 138 seconds.
“The second eruption occurred at 07:06 local time, with the eruption column observed at around 1 kilometre above the summit or 4,676 metres above mean sea level (mdpl),” said Semeru Observation Post officer Mukdas Sofian in a written report received in Lumajang. According to him, the ash plume was observed white to grey with thick intensity toward the southeast and south. The eruption was recorded on a seismograph with a maximum amplitude of 22 mm and a duration of 140 seconds.
The mountain, the highest on the island of Java, erupted again at 07:54 local time with the eruption column observed at around 1 kilometre above the summit (4,676 mdpl).
He explained that currently Semeru’s volcanic activity is at Status Level III (Siaga) with recommendations for the public not to engage in any activity in the southeastern sector along Besuk Kobokan, up to 13 kilometres from the summit (eruption centre).
Beyond that distance, he continued, the public should not operate within 500 metres of the river edge (riverbank) along Besuk Kobokan because of the potential for pyroclastic surges and lahars to reach up to 17 kilometres from the summit.
“The public is prohibited from activities within a five-kilometre radius of the crater/summit of Mount Semeru due to the risk of volcanic ejecta (pjair),” he said.
He urged the public to remain vigilant for the potential of pyroclastic flows, lava dome collapses, and lahars along river valleys that originate from the summit of Mount Semeru.