We are not preventing people from climbing the mountain."Padang Aro, West Sumatra (ANTARA News) - The Mount Kerinci monitoring post has issued an alert prohibiting mountaineers from scaling the 3,805 meter mountains peak, following an increase in volcanic activity on Sunday.
"We are restricting mountaineering and trekking activities on Mount Kerinci to one-third of what they normally are for safety reasons," added the chief of the Mount Kerinci monitoring post, Indra Saputra, here on Monday.
According to Indra, increasingly dangerous volcanic activity at the peak forced the post to issue an alert.
Indra hoped that mountaineers would abide by the regulations for safety reasons.
"We are not preventing people from climbing the mountain. But, we are prohibiting them from reaching the peak because of dangerous volcanic activity," Indra added.
The post chief said that people could carry out mountaineering or trekking activities on Mount Kerinci at a safe distance from the peak.
Indra added that the day-to-day activities of people in the S. Solok district of W Sumatra and Kerinci district, as well as the Sungai Penuh city of Jambi Province, have, so far, not been affected by the increasing volcanic activity at Mount Kerinci.
The monitoring post noted that Mount Kerinci has had volcanic earthquakes four to seven times a day.
Mount Kerinci is located 130 kilometers to the south of Padang city between W Sumatra province and Jambi province. It is part of the Bukit Barisan mountain range.
It is surrounded by Kerinci Seblat National Park, which is home to Sumatran tigers and Sumatran rhinos.
The Kerinci crater is 400 x 120 square meters wide and contains green water.
The stratovolcano (a conical type of volcano) is still active and previously erupted in 2008.
(Uu.B019/INE/KR-BSR/H-YH)
Editor: Priyambodo RH
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