Forty Tremors in Mount Soputan's Couldron

MANADO, KOMPAS.com - From 00.00 to 7.45 am local time, The Mt Soputan monitoring post in Maliku village, Minahasa Selatan regency, registered 40 tremors.

"The tremors took place in the crater indicating that the Mt’s activities are still high," head of the monitoring post Sandy Manengkey said in Tomohon on Monday. Observations indicated that the ash eruptions had momentarily stopped, thin smoke flows were seen instead reaching a height of 50 meters. "There had been 10 tremors, instead of red-hot glowing lava. It can be said that the activities of the volcano had dropped," he said.

In addition, he said the amplitude of volcanic quakes had also dropped. In yesterday’s eruption the amplitude had reached a height of 40 millimeters, and now only 2 millimeters.

"But the tremors still continued," he added.

In the meantime, the status of the volcano Manengkey said had not been lowered from alertness level III to level II. "We continued giving visual and tremor reports to the Geological Disaster Mitigation Volcanological Center (PVMBG), although the activities had declined, but we are still waiting whether the status could be lowered or not," he said.

This time the eruption, he said, was not dangerous to the villagers, especially that the distance between the cauldron and the human settlements was 9 kilometers. PVMBG has set 6 kilometers as safe zone of Mt Soputan.

Menara village, Minahasa Selatan regency, is the closest village to the cauldron. "But we still hoped the people would remain alert although the eruptions had stopped," Manengkey said.

Mt Soputan in Sulawesi Utara erupted on Sunday at 7.55 am local time, and aftershocks took place at 9.27 am. Not only volcanic ash and red-hot lava flows were coming down from the cauldron.