Volcanic activity at Mount Semeru on the border of Lumajang and Malang regencies, East Java, showed a significant increase after four consecutive eruptions were reported on Wednesday (1/7). The highest eruption was recorded reaching one kilometer above the summit of the 3,676-meter-high mountain above sea level.
According to reports from the Mount Semeru Observation Post, the series of eruptions began in the early hours at 00:52 WIB with an ash column 700 meters high. The intensity of the eruption then increased in the morning, with the third and fourth eruptions reaching a height of one kilometer each. The resulting ash column was observed to be white to gray with thick intensity, moving towards the east, southeast, and south sectors.
The Lumajang Regional Disaster Management Agency (BPBD) confirmed that no direct impact of volcanic ash on residential areas has been reported so far. Nevertheless, authorities emphasized that the public should remain on high alert as the volcano's status remains at Level III (Alert).
In an official statement, BPBD reminded the public to comply with the exclusion zone. Residents are prohibited from conducting activities within a five-kilometer radius of the crater, as well as along 13 kilometers in the southeastern sector along the Besuk Kobokan channel, to avoid the threat of incandescent rock projections, pyroclastic flows, and lahar hazards that could potentially flow along riverbeds originating from Semeru's summit.
