Mt Marapi Shows Volcanic Activity Again

PADANG, KOMPAS.com - Mt Marapi in West Sumatra again showed volcanic activity spewing white smoke up to 100 meters into the sky from 6am to 9am on Monday, observers said.      Marapi monitoring staff Soeparno said  here on Monday that the thick white smoke was seen billowing into the sky but no volcanic materials had been produced.      "Mt Marapi only produced smoke unlike before when it also produced volcanic materials," he said. The danger status of the volcano however is still maintained at Level II.

 "We call on people especially those living around the mountain area to remain alert because the mountain’s activity is unpredictable."   The mountain located between Tanah Data and Agam districts in West Sumatra has been active since 9am on August 3, 2011.

It has spewed volcanic ash as high as 1,000 meter causing ash rain in a number of districts such as Agam, Tanah Datar, Pariaman, Padangpariaman and Padangpanjang. The ash has also covered hectares of vegetable fields. On August 6 at around 8am the mountain again spewed thick ash as high as 300 meter from its crater.      Until now the Mt Marapi monitoring post has recorded dozens of explosions. The mountain area is a conservation area and from the 18th century to 2008 a total of 454 explosions have been recorded from the mountain, 50 of them in a large scale.  Many people like to climb the mountain during holiday or ahead of the new year.