Overall Orange Volcanic eruption for Ibu
in Indonesia

Event summary

ORANGE alert: The Ibu Volcanic eruption is unlikely to require external humanitarian assistance based on the exposed population and coping capacity.

GDACS ID VO 1000106
Name: Ibu (268030)
Glide number: VO-2025-000012-IDN
Lat/Lon: 1.49 , 127.63
Event Date: 14 Jan 2025 UTC
Exposed Population 30km: About 58000 people within 30km
Exposed Population 100km: About 850000 people within 100km
Max Volc. Explosivity Index VEI: 2
Population Exposure Index PEI: 4
Inserted at: 16 Jan 2025 14:06 UTC

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Indonesia - Volcanic eruption (ECHO 21 Jan 2025)Thu, 16 Jan 2025 11:24

  • The Ibu volcano, located in west Halmahera Island, in North Maluku province, eastern Indonesia, erupted on 15 January at 00:11 UTC.  Volcanic ash was reported, and the column reached 4,000 m above the summit of the crater.
  • As of 16 January, according to media, at least 3,000 people have been evacuated around the area to several temporary evacuation centres.
  • The alert level has been increased to IV - the highest level - and activities are forbidden within a radius of 4.5 km of the volcano's crater.
Detailed event map. European Union, 2026. Map produced by EC-JRC.
The boundaries and the names shown on this map do not imply official endorsement or acceptance by the European Union.

Updates on volcanic activity (Smithsonian)

The Smithsonian/USGS Weekly Volcanic Activity Report provides information about global volcanism on a weekly basis. Latest Ibu report has been published on 15 Jan 2025 08:30.
The Pusat Vulkanologi dan Mitigasi Bencana Geologi (PVMBG) reported that the eruption at Ibu continued during 8-15 January. Daily gray or white-and-gray ash plumes that were often dense generally rose as high as 2.5 km above the summit and drifted in multiple directions, though ash plumes occasionally rose higher. Webcam images posted with the reports often showed incandescence at the summit or being ejected above the summit of the inner active cone. During 10 and 13-14 January ash plumes rose up to 3 km above the summit. At 1935 on 11 January a dense gray ash plume rose 4 km above the summit and drifted W and, according to BNPB, incandescent lava was ejected as high as 2 km above the summit. The event lasted for three minutes and five seconds based on seismic data. At 0711 on 15 January a dense ash plume rose 4 km above the summit and drifted W and a pyroclastic flow traveled 500 m N. Booming and rumbling sounds were heard at the Ibu Observation Post (9 km W). In a press release PVMBG noted that taller ash plumes, 3-4 km above the summit, had become more frequent during 1-15 January. Additionally, the number of shallow volcanic earthquakes increased, and deformation data showed inflation on 6 and 13 January. The Alert Level was raised to 4 (the highest level on a four-level scale) at 1000 on 15 January and the public was advised to stay 5 km away from the active crater and 6 km away from the N crater wall opening. Sources: Badan Nacional Penanggulangan Bencana (BNPB) ,Pusat Vulkanologi dan Mitigasi Bencana Geologi (PVMBG, also known as CVGHM)
See the detail here

Latest media headlines

Moderate mag. 4.5 earthquake - Ceram Sea, 100 km north of Ambon City, .. 1/18/2025 7:55:00 PM.

A shallow magnitude 4.5 earthquake was reported early morning near Ambon City, Maluku, Indonesia. According to Indonesia''s Meteorology, Climatology, and Geophysical Agency, the quake hit on Sunday, January 19th, 2025, at 4:37 am local time
...(more)
Moderate mag. 4.8 earthquake - South Pacific Ocean, 428 km northeast o.. 1/18/2025 4:34:00 AM.

Seismic station: Raoul, Kermadec Islands (RAO/IU network) | Distance from quake: 601 km / 373 mi | Show on map Station Info Seismogram (vertical component) around time of quake. Thin dotted red line indicates time of quake. Seismic waves ar
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16 janvier 2025 21:40 Eruption d''un volcan en Indonésie 500 personnes.. 1/18/2025 1:20:00 AM.

Des milliers d''habitants ont rejeté jeudi un ordre évacuation prononcé par les autorités dans l''est de l''Indonésie, malgré les éruptions à répétition du mont Ibu, estimant être habitués à une telle situation. Seuls environ 500 habitants
...(more)
Moderate mag. 4.0 earthquake - 100 km south of Sokaraja, Central Java,.. 1/17/2025 3:49:00 AM.

Nearby places The closest larger town where the quake might have been felt is Banyumas , a town with 48,000 inhabitants in Indonesia , in 94 km (59 mi) distance northeast of the epicenter. People likely experienced very weak shaking there.
...(more)

Estimated casualties (PAGER)

USGS estimates the number of casualties for each earthquake for the Prompt Assessment of Global Earthquakes for Response (PAGER) product.
The graph shows the current fatalities estimate.

Exposed population

Data, images, links, services and documents

For this events, GDACS has links to information from the following sources: EC-JRC (27), INGV (2), DesInventar (1), WMO (1), INFORM (2), (1), JSR (1),