REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, YOGYAKARTA -- On Jan 29, Mount Merapi, located in Yogyakarta and Central Java, was recorded to have spewed incandescent lava from its crater, flowing down the volcano's flanks eight times. The Institute for Investigation and Development of Geological Seismicity Technology (BPPTKG) recorded incandescent lava avalanches traveling down Mount Merapi's slopes eight times.

Through its official Twitter account, the BPPTKG stated that based on seismic data from 00.00-06.00 WIB, the volcano erupted, spewing eight lava avalanches, lasting for 22 to 66 seconds. Four incandescent lava avalanches were observed via CCTV BPPTKG in the direction of Kali Gendol, with a sliding distance of 200 to 600 meters.

On Monday (Jan 28) from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. WIB, the BPPTKG also recorded five earthquakes, with a duration of 16-26 seconds. The last released morphological analysis of the lava dome of Mount Merapi by BPPTKG showed that the volume of the mountain lava dome had reached 461 thousand cubic meters, with a growth rate of 1,300 cubic meters per day, or smaller than the previous week.

Currently, lava domes are still stable, with a low growth rate, on an average, less than 20 thousand cubic meters per day.

The BPPTKG also reported that on January 18-24, 2019, the most active volcano in Indonesia experienced three gusts of earthquakes, one instance of a shallow volcanic earthquake, 223 avalanches caused by earthquakes, two earthquakes of low frequency, and a tectonic earthquake seven times.

Until now, the BPPTKG has continued to maintain the status of Mount Merapi at Level II, or Alert, and temporarily does not recommend climbing activities except for the purposes of investigation and research related to disaster mitigation efforts. The BPPTKG has urged residents to not conduct activities within a three-kilometer radius from the summit of Mount Merapi.

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