Mount Semeru in East Java erupted at 10:42 a.m. local time on Friday (Oct. 17), sending an ash column about 1,000 metres into the air in an eruption lasting about 137 seconds, according to the Centre for Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation.
The volcano has been unusually active in recent days. Earlier that morning, eruptions at 4:52 a.m. and 6:35 a.m. produced ash columns of about 700 metres and 800 metres respectively. Over the past week, Semeru has erupted more than 40 times, making it one of Indonesia's most frequently erupting volcanoes this year. It remains on alert level III.
The Centre has urged residents and tourists not to enter the area within five kilometres of the crater and to steer clear of hazardous zones in the southeast sector extending 13 kilometres along the river, warning of secondary hazards including pyroclastic flows, lava falls and lahars. Authorities have specifically cautioned that rainfall could heighten the risk of mudflows.
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Mount Semeru erupts in East Java, ash plume reaches 900m
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