No injuries and normal air traffic

A day after the eruption, Semeru volcano in Java appears to have calmed down again. The volcano is clearly visible again today and only a thin white smoke can be seen at the top, reports the Indonesian Center for Volcanology.

No deaths or injuries have been reported. Air traffic will continue as normal. However, nearly 2,500 people were evacuated.

The Semeru River erupted yesterday morning and large clouds of gray ash appeared. A plume of smoke from the volcano, about 3,700 meters high, reached a height of 15 kilometers. Lava also flowed down the slopes. Authorities have raised the level of volcanic activity to level four and higher.

Local residents advised not to approach the crater and to keep a distance of about eight kilometers. They also had to move away from the southeastern region along the Pisok Kobukan River, about thirteen kilometers from the volcano.

The volcano is located in the eastern part of Java, about 640 kilometers east of the capital, Jakarta. The eruption followed a series of earthquakes in the west of the island. Hundreds of people died in an earthquake last month.

Yesterday people stopped near the volcano along the way:

Last year, at least fourteen people died as a result of the eruption of Semeru volcano. Dozens were injured. Indonesia has 142 volcanoes and has the largest number of people in the world living near a volcano: 8.6 million Indonesians live within ten kilometers of a volcano.

The archipelago of Indonesia lies along the so-called “Ring of Fire”, a series of horseshoe-shaped fault lines, making the country vulnerable to earthquakes and volcanic activity.