Volcanic activity on Indonesia’s Mount Semeru showed signs Monday of abating after a series of eruptions over the weekend forced more than 2,000 people to evacuate, reports DPA.
The country’s government has also imposed a 13-kilometer exclusion zone on the southeastern slope of the volcano.
Indonesian authorities on Sunday raised the volcano’s alert level to the maximum, from three to four on its national scale, as it showed signs of increased activity, spewing a 1,500-meter column of hot ash into the sky and dispersing volcanic ash within a 7-kilometer radius.
Following this, the Center for Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation has reported that «the volcano was clearly visible» early Monday morning, with only «a thin white smoke being seen 500 meters from the summit.»
In December last year, 51 people died and more than 10,000 were displaced after heavy rains caused a lava dome on Semeru to collapse, sending a huge plume of ash into the sky and scorching lava down the slopes.
