Tomohon, N Sulawesi (ANTARA News) - Mount Lokon in North Sulawesi has shown signs of decreased activity since it erupted on Sept 9, the Bandung-based Volcanic and Geological Disaster Mitigation Center (PVMBG) predicted.

"The sign of decreased activity can be observed from the declining frequency of deep and shallow volcanic earthquakes in the aftermath of September 9 eruption," Farid Ruskanda Bina, head of the Mount Lokon and Mahawu observatory post, said here Sunday.

Only one to two volcanic earthquakes are recorded once in every six hours, he said.

He said the PVMBG kept evaluating the trend of volcanic earthquakes over the past couple of months as part of efforts to take further steps.

"If the activity of Mount Lokon really continues to decline we will propose (to the PVMBG) to lower its status," he said.

The PVMBG has raised the status of the volcano to the third highest level with areas within a 2.5-km radius of the crater declared dangerous.

"We hope that the local residents would always comply with the danger radius the more so because the status of the volcano has yet to be lowered to the second-highest level from the alert level," he said.

Mount Lokon erupted on Sept 9 and 12, spewing volcanic ashes up to 2,500 meters into the sky.
(S012)

Editor: Jafar M Sidik
Copyright © ANTARA 2013