Volcano’s plume reached an altitude of 15 km.
Indonesia’s Mount Semeru volcano erupted on Sunday, December 4, 2022, engulfing its surrounding with smoke and ash.
Over 2000 residents living in east Java province near the volcano have been evacuated. The volcano lies 640 kilometres from Indonesia’s capital Jakarta and erupted at 2.46 PM local time Sunday, according to the government.
Indonesia’s Centre for Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation (PVMBG) has given this eruption a level 4 status, the highest hazard warning.
The ash from the volcano has reached 12 kilometres from the epicentre. People have been warned to stay at least 17 kilometres from the volcano.
According to Japan’s Meteorological Agency, the volcano’s plume reached an altitude of 15 kilometres. But the agency said that there is no tsunami warning for Semeru.
The government has distributed 20,000 masks to residents around the volcano to prevent respiratory diseases. No deaths have been reported from this volcanic eruption so far.
Eleven climbers have been killed and 12 more are missing after the eruption of Indonesia’s Mount Marapi, local officials have said.
Seventy-five people were in the area when the volcano in West Sumatra erupted on Sunday, according to authorities. “Among them there are 26 people who have not been evacuated, we have found 14 of them, three were found alive and 11 were found dead,” said Abdul Malik, head of the Padang Search and Rescue Agency.
Video footage of Sunday’s eruption showed a huge cloud of volcanic ash spread across the sky and cars and roads covered with debris. A minor eruption on Monday forced rescue workers to suspend their operations.
Indonesia sits on the Pacific’s so-called “Ring of Fire” and has 127 active volcanoes, according to the country’s volcanology agency, including the 2,891-metre (about 9,500 ft) Mount Marapi.
Mount Marapi, which is currently on the second alert level of Indonesia’s four-step warning scale, is among the most active volcanoes on Sumatra.
The volcano’s deadliest known eruption, in 1979, killed 60 people