Local residents and tourists were asked to stay away from Mt. Galunggung in Garut regency and Tasikmalaya in West Java as the Volcanic and Geological Disaster Mitigation Center (PVMBG) raised the volcano’s status to alert on Monday.
The center’s volcano observation division head Muhamad Hendrasto said that the mountain’s volcanic activity had increased since Sunday afternoon, with crater temperatures reaching 40 degrees Celsius.
“The crater’s surface color turned to yellow in September and has now returned to dark chocolate but with temperatures still around 40 degrees Celsius,” Hendrasto told The Jakarta Post on Monday.
The volcano erupted in 1822, 1894, 1918 and twice within nine months between 1982 and 1983. The last eruptions disrupted several international flights, including a British Airways plane carrying 240 passengers, which was forced to land in Jakarta in June 1982 when one of its four jets shut down after ashes from Galunggung entered the engine.
