Mount Semeru erupts, ash column reaches 1 km above summit

Mount Semeru on the border of Lumajang and Malang regencies, East Java, erupted on Saturday at 16.57 WIB, with the eruption column rising about 1 kilometer above the summit. Mukdas Sofian, an officer at the Mount Semeru Observation Post, reported a thick white-to-gray ash column drifting west. The eruption was recorded on a seismograph with a maximum amplitude of 22 mm and a duration of 171 seconds. Semeru erupted three times on Saturday, at 01.04 WIB, 04.53 WIB, and 16.57 WIB. The volcano remains at Level III, or Siaga. Residents were told not to carry out activities in the southeast sector along Besuk Kobokan up to 13 kilometers from the summit, and to stay away from a 5-kilometer radius from the crater. Officials also warned of the potential for pyroclastic flows, lava avalanches and lahars in river channels around the mountain.