Mount Semeru erupts, eruption column height reaches 300 meters

Lumajang – Mount Semeru erupted again. The eruption was accompanied by an eruption as high as 300 meters above the peak. “An eruption of Mount Semeru occurred on Friday, October 17, 2025, at 22.14 WIB with the height of the eruption column observed to be approximately 300 meters above the peak or 3,976 meters above sea level,” Sigit Rian Alfian, Mount Semeru Observation Post Officer, said as reported by Antara, Friday (18/10). The ash column was observed to be white to gray in color with thick intensity towards the southwest. “The eruption was recorded on a seismograph with a maximum amplitude of 22 mm and a duration of 136 seconds,” he said. PAGE TO CONTINUE CONTENT Based on official data, the highest mountain on the island of Java was recorded to have erupted eight times on Friday from 07.52 WIB to 22.14 WIB. Mount Semeru still has Alert status or Level II, so the Center for Volcanology and Geological Disaster Mitigation (PVMBG) has made a number of recommendations, namely that people are prohibited from carrying out any activities in the southeastern sector, along Besuk Kobokan, eight kilometers from the peak (center of the eruption). Beyond this distance, he said, people should not carry out activities within 500 meters of the riverbank along Besuk Kobokan because they have the potential to be affected by the expansion of hot clouds and lava flows up to a distance of 13 kilometers from the peak. “The public is also advised not to carry out activities within a three kilometer radius of the crater or peak of Mount Semeru because it is prone to the danger of glowing rocks,” he said. Mukdas appealed to the public to be aware of the potential for hot clouds, lava avalanches and rainy lava along rivers/valleys whose water flow originates at the peak of Mount Semeru, especially along Besuk Kobokan, Besuk Bang, Besuk Kembar and Besuk Sat, as well as the potential for lava in small Kotabok rivers of which Besuk rivers are. (isa/isa)