ANN/THE STAR – A 5.0-magnitude earthquake jolted Indonesia’s western province of West Java yesterday morning, the country’s meteorology, climatology and geophysics agency said.
The quake occurred at 3.32am local time yesterday with its epicentre located 25 kilometres northwest of Bogor town and a depth of 132 kilometres under the seabed, the agency said.
The earthquake did not have the potential to trigger a tsunami, it added.
Indonesia also has recently raised its alert as the country’s volcanology authorities have reported hundreds of volcanic activities during the past week.
As of Saturday, 17 volcanoes across the Southeast Asian country had been on level II alert status, according to the latest report from Indonesia’s Centre for Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation (PVMBG).
The Marapi volcano in West Sumatera, located on the island of Sumatra, erupted 191 times on Saturday, spewing 300-metre to 600-metre-high ash columns, the Marapi Volcano Observation Post (PGA) reported.
“The volcano has erupted for eight days,” coordinator of the observation post Ahmad Rifandi said in a written statement. On Java Island, the Semeru volcano erupted once on Saturday and twice on Friday. It spewed out 700 metres to one-kilometre-high white and grey ash columns with thick intensity, Mount Semeru Monitoring Post reported.
“We recommend all people who live surrounding the volcano not to do any activities around and stay away at least 13 kilometres from the eruption range because the volcano has the potential to throw hot stones and pour hot clouds and lava,” head of the monitoring post-Mukdas Sofian said in a release.
The highest mountain in Java, the Semeru volcano erupted in December 2021, ejecting volcanic ash into the sky and raining hot mud on villages, killing at least 51 people and injuring 169 others.
Also on Saturday, the Ili Lewotolok volcano in East Nusa Tenggara (NTT) erupted and brought a potential threat of lava, according to the PVMBG.
