The explosive eruption at the volcano continues.
It seems that yesterday’s massive eruption triggered a new eruptive period at the volcano as another explosion occurred this morning.
At 08:22 local time, vulcanian-sized explosion generated a thick grey-to-black ash column spewing pyroclastic material to estimated 3700 meters altitude towards the southwest. Recent eruptions from Marapi might be found as phreatic, i.e. when the ejecta consists solely of old country rock, indicating interaction between water and heated conduit-rocks rather than new magma itself, although this information has to be confirmed or refuted by the observatory.
The PVMBG volcano observatory reported a seismic signal with a maximum amplitude of 30 mm and a duration of 68 seconds.
Despite the abrupt strong eruption, the alert status for the volcano remains at Level II (Alert).
The warning bulletin states that ballistic impacts of volcanic bombs and pyroclastic flows could affect an area of about 3 km distance from the main crater.
Source: Pusat Vulkanologi dan Mitigasi Bencana Geologi volcano activity update 4 December 2023
Unfortunately, during a press release by CNN Indonesia, the head of the Search and Rescue (SAR) team for Padang City, West Sumatra, Abdul Malik, confirmed that 11 fatalities were confirmed following the major explosion yesterday among 75 tourists in the area during the eruption. Forty-nine people were successfully evacuated safely, of which some were taken to hospitals in Bukittinggi City and Padang Panjang City.
Past fatalities at Marapi:
Fatalities have been reported from eruptions in 1975, 1979 and 1992. On 30 April 1979, heavy rainfalls (300 mm of rainfall!) remobilized an old lahar and other volcanic material on Marapi’s N and E flanks, producing several landslides. The largest began at 2,400 m altitude on 30 April, and traveled as much as 20 km downslope to ~70 m altitude, leaving a deposit 20-150 m wide and 1-3 m thick. 80 people were killed, five villages were damaged, and several acres of farmland were destroyed. An explosion of Marapi Volcano on 5th July 1992 killed one person and injured five others.
Gunung Marapi (not to be confused with the better-known Merapi volcano on Java) is Sumatra’s most active volcano.