The Semeru volcano erupted on the island of Java. The last eruption was only a year ago. At least 50 people died at the time.
The Semeru volcano on Jaba was shrouded in dense clouds of ash on Sunday.
(dpa) Exactly one year to the day after its last eruption, the Semeru volcano on Indonesia’s main island of Java has erupted again. The Center for Volcanology and Geological Hazard Prevention registered signs of further increasing activity and issued the highest warning level 4 on Sunday.
From the early hours of the morning, the volcano had repeatedly spewed hot ash up to 1,500 meters into the sky. The dense cloud of ash descended on the area in a seven kilometer radius around the crater. Nothing was initially known about injuries or damage.
The potential for further high ash columns and pyroclastic flows – extremely fast lava flows – is very high, the volcanology authority said. The Indonesian authorities imposed a total exclusion zone of 5 kilometers around the crater and a partial exclusion zone 13 kilometers away on the south-eastern slope.
At almost 3700 meters, Semeru is the highest mountain on Java and is located in the Bromo-Tengger-Semeru National Park in the east of the island. He has been more active again since December 2020. When it last erupted in early December 2021, at least 50 people died and thousands had to flee the area.
The island nation of Indonesia is located on the Pacific Ring of Fire, the most geologically active zone on earth. Just two weeks ago, more than 300 people died in an earthquake on Java.