Banda Api — April 1988

Smithsonian Institution · Scientific Event Alert Network Bulletin, 13:4 · Lindsay McClelland, editor

Source briefing. The April issue contains early reports of the May eruption; later May and June reports revise its account of the vents and lava flows.

The volcano erupted at 06:30 on 9 May. Before the eruption, recorded and felt earthquakes increased. From 8 to 10 May, residents of Neira, about two kilometres east of the summit, felt shocks every few minutes.

Early evacuations moved about 1,800 residents of Gunung Api to Neira and Lontar. More than 5,000 inhabitants of Neira city also moved to other locations on Neira and to Lontar. The Indonesian Volcanological Survey operated an observation post in Neira with a radio and seismometer.