Residents within an eight kilometer radius of the crater were advised to leave the area. There is a tsunami warning in Japan.
Exactly one year after its last eruption, the Semeru volcano on Indonesia’s main island of Java has erupted again. The Center for Volcanology and Prevention of Geological Risks recorded signs of increasing activity and issued the highest alert level 4 on Sunday.
From the early hours of the morning, the volcano repeatedly spewed hot ash up to 1,500 meters into the sky. The dense ash plume descended on the area in a radius of seven kilometers around the crater. Nothing was initially known about injuries or damage.
The potential for more tall ash plumes and pyroclastic flows – extremely fast lava flows – is very high, the volcanology official said. Indonesian authorities have imposed a five kilometer total exclusion zone around the crater and a partial exclusion zone 13 kilometers away on the southeastern slope.
Exactly one year ago earthquake with more than 50 dead
At almost 3,700 meters, Semeru is the highest mountain in Java and is located in the Bromo-Tengger-Semeru National Park in the east of the island. It has been most 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. There, several tectonic plates collide, so earthquakes and volcanic eruptions occur frequently. Just two weeks ago, an earthquake in Java killed more than 300 people.
In Japan, the eruption triggered a tsunami warning. It applies to the Miyako and Yaeyama island chains in Okinawa Prefecture, Japanese news agency Kyodo reported.
(APA/AFP)