Mount Anak Krakatau in Lampung Province erupted at 3:09 p.m. local time on Wednesday, shooting a column of ash 3 thousand meters above its peak.

“Currently, Mt. Anak Krakatau is at Level III (alert) status,” Head of the Mt. Anak Krakatau Observation Post in Hargo Pancuran Village, Rajabasa, South Lampung, Andi Suwardi, informed.

The thick and black ash column was observed moving toward the east. The eruption, with a maximum amplitude of 65 mm and a duration of 1 minute 37 seconds, was recorded on a seismogram.

Suwardi appealed to the public, visitors, and tourists to not venture within a radius of at least five kilometers from Mt. Anak Krakatau’s crater.

“People, visitors, tourists, and climbers should not go near Mt. Anak Krakatau or carry out activities within a radius of five km from the active crater,” he said.

Meanwhile, residents of Pulau Sebesi hamlet said they were worried by the frequent eruptions of Mt. Anak Krakatau.

“Yes, residents feel worried about the frequent eruptions of Mt. Anak Krakatau,” Riko, the head of the hamlet said when contacted from Bandar Lampung.

Residents are still traumatized by the 2018 tsunami that was triggered by Anak Krakatau’s volcanic activity, he added.

“It must be traumatic because the 2018 tsunami was caused by an avalanche on Mt. Anak Krakatau,” he said.

Meanwhile, local residents have been advised not to pay heed to unreliable information about the volcano.

On December 22, 2018, a tsunami struck Banten and Lampung without being preceded by an earthquake due to the volcanic activity of Mt. Anak Krakatau, the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) said.

The tsunami in the Sunda Strait was caused by an avalanche on the slopes of the volcano, it added.

Since June 11, 1930, when Mt. Anak Krakatau emerged from the sea surface, it has erupted explosively or effusively more than a hundred times.

Source: Antara News