Mount Marapi in West Sumatra experienced another eruption on Wednesday, March 6, 2024, with the height of the ash column observed reaching 700 meters above the top of the crater and an amplitude recorded on a seismograph of 11.5 millimeters.

The eruption that occurred was accompanied by very thick clouds of volcanic ash, flying towards the north and northwest.

Head of the Marapi Volcano Emergency Response Team from the Center for Volcanology and Geological Disaster Mitigation (PVMBG), Yusa Suparman, said that throughout early March alone, there had been at least 45 eruptions and 520 gusts from the eruption of Mount Marapi.

Yusa explained that this condition was triggered by the increase in seismic activity that occurred in West Sumatra. Moreover, Marapi Volcano has very different characteristics from other volcanoes.

This volcano is considered to erupt more easily due to the volcano's lack of ability to withstand the large pressure that arises from beneath the magma.

SOT: YUSA SUPARMAN, Head of the PVMBG Marapi Volcano Emergency Response Team

"So it can be concluded that Mount Marapi, with a small supply or small intrusion of magma, will also influence the activity of the volcano. So it doesn't need much pressure to cause an eruption on this mountain. I mentioned earlier that a week ago or since February 20, 2024, Until now. Volcanic earthquakes, low-frequency earthquakes, and Haigbret earthquakes are earthquakes that are correlated with the rise of magma towards the surface and are increasingly recorded, causing pressure to accumulate near the crater so that eruptions occur more frequently."

If calculated from the first major eruption on December 3, 2023, to March 6, 2024, there have been at least 246 eruptions and 2,488 gusts at the Marapi volcano.