Indonesian geological authorities have urged caution in view of the recent activity exhibited by the Mount Merapi volcano, in West Sumatra and considered the most active in the country, which has erupted up to seven times throughout this Saturday.
According to a report from the Agency for Volcanic and Geological Hazard Mitigation (PVMBG), the first eruption began at 06.11 a.m. local time «with the ejection of ash 300 meters high».
Then, according to researcher Ahmad Rifandi to the official ANTARA news agency, seismographs recorded eruptions at 09.44, 10.34, 11.35, 11.44, 12.30 and 14.51.
Rifandi explained that the volcano is under Level 2 alert status, which advises visitors to exercise caution and not to approach within three kilometers of the volcano’s crater, a sad memory for the population in 2010, when an eruption cost the lives of 350 people.
The acting head of the Agency for Disaster Mitigation (BPBD), Bambang Warsito, has asked mountaineering groups on the volcano’s slope to report their situation.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
