Lava flows during an eruption of Mount Semeru in East Java on 16 January.
Photographer: Agus Harianto / AFP / Getty Images
Photographer: Agus Harianto / AFP / Getty Images
Mount Semeru volcano on the main island of Java in Indonesia threw hot ash up to 4 kilometers (2.5 miles) on Saturday, prompting authorities to warn people to stay away.
People should not carry out any activity within a radius of 1 kilometer from the crater, the country’s national disaster mitigation management reported on Saturday. The volcano alert level was in “vigilance,” two scales below the highest “warning” rating.
Indonesia’s 18,000 islands lie along the Pacific Ocean fire ring area of active volcanoes and tectonic faults, making it prone to natural disasters such as eruptions and earthquakes.
Indonesian authorities have had to deal with several natural and man-made disasters this month.
A magnitude 6.2 the quake shook West Sulawesi on Friday and killed dozens. Hundreds of people were injured and about 15,000 people were evacuated.
On Saturday, at least five people in Manado, northern Sulawesi, were killed by floods and landslides due to adverse weather. Last week, at least 11 people, including lifeguards, were killed and 18 injured in West Java after torrential rains caused landslides.
On January 9, Sriwijaya Air Flight 182 carrying 62 people sank in the Java Sea shortly after takeoff from Jakarta. No survivors were found.