TEMPO.CO, Medan - National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) recorded that Mount Sinabung in Karo, North Sumatra has erupted nine times in the past two days.
BNPB spokesperson Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said on Saturday, July 22, that it erupted twice on Thursday and seven times on Friday.
On Thursday, the first eruption occurred at 5:46 pm and spewed 3,500 meter high of volcanic ashes. It caused 346 seconds of a volcanic earthquake. The second eruption took place at 11 pm and Mt. Sinabung spewed 3,500 meters of volcanic ashes and it caused 357 seconds of the earthquake.
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The following day, the eruption occurred at 09:55 am and spewed 1,300 meter high of volcanic ashes, as well as 249 seconds of a volcanic quake. The next eruptions took place at 10:17 and 11:03 in the morning, and at 5:31 and 5:54 in the afternoon. It repeated again at 7:59 and 11 in the evening.
Based on the series of the eruption, BNPB concluded that the volcanic activity of Mt. Sinabung is still high and maintained alert status.
BNPB recommended local residents and visitors to not perform any activities in the radius of 3 km from the summit, 7 km for south-southeast sector, 6 km for southeast-east sector and 4 km for north-east sector.
Residents who live around rivers connected to Mt. Sinabung is called to maintain alert on the potential danger of lava flows. The potential danger is due to the natural dam created on the upstream of Laborus River and people living or doing their activities around the downstream need to be alert since the dam can break out and cause lava flows.
ANTARA