The Long History (Short) of Semeru Eruptions

TheIndonesia.co - On Saturday, December 4, Mount Semeru in Lumajang, East Java, erupted. It spewed thick columns of ash more than 12,000 meters, which turned the villages dark. As of Tuesday, 34 people have died and 16 are still missing. Search and rescue team continues evacuation amid changing weather in the location.

One of the survivors, Herman, said he has experienced four Semeru eruptions since 1995, but according to him, the latest is the worse so far. “The one in 2021 is the worst; everything was destroyed,” he said.

Located in the eastern part of Java, Semeru is the highest volcano on the island at 3,676 mdpl. It’s also one of the most active as Indonesia lies on the Pacific Ring of Fire, in which continental plates meet and results in frequent volcanic eruptions and earthquakes.

The first recorded eruption of Mount Semeru was in 1818. Since then, there have been a number of notable eruptions, and Volcano Discovery reported that the mount “has been in almost continuous eruption since 1967”.

Suara.com reported that the very first eruption happened on November 8, 1818. Afterwards, Mount Semeru erupted for several more times in the century, including in 1829, 1839, and 1832,

Another notable eruption occurred in 1994, and it was one of the biggest eruption in the history of Mount Semeru. The eruption cloud reached the height of up to 500 meters, and the disaster claimed the lives of seven people, who were washed away by lava.

On December 23, 2002, Mount semeru spewed hot clouds in to the sky and forced residents to celebrate Christmas in a post-disaster condition.

Before erupting again on Saturday, Semeru previously erupted on December 1, 2020, and it continued until mid-January of 2021. No deaths were reported in the aftermath.

Volcanologist from Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB) Mirzam Abdurrachman warned the public that, in general, there are primary and secondary hazards of volcanic eruptions. The primary hazards are in the form lava, volcanic ash, and hot cloud during the eruption. Secondary hazards, meanwhile, are flashflood and mudflow.

Abdurrachman said both types of hazards pose equally dangerous risks. Therefore, it’s important for public and authorities to maintain alertness post-eruption.