Fact Check: Are All Volcanoes in Indonesia Erupting Simultaneously?
False Claim Links Indonesia’s Volcanoes to a Single Underground Event
Kabarsaji.com – Social media posts in early September 2026 circulated dramatic footage alongside claims that every volcano in Indonesia had become active at the same time because of unusual movement beneath the ground. The assertion is false. Official monitoring information showed that only four volcanoes were erupting during the period examined: Mount Anak Krakatau, Mount Semeru, Mount Lewotolok, and Mount Ibu.
The posts appeared on X and YouTube and used video of volcanic activity without providing dates, locations, scales, or verifiable official references. One Turkish-language account posted on Sunday, September 6, 2026, that dormant volcanoes and nearby areas had supposedly become active again because of an extraordinary underground phenomenon.
Indonesia is one of the world’s most volcanically active countries, so multiple eruptions can occur within the same period. That reality can make sweeping claims appear plausible when images and videos are shared without context. But simultaneous activity at several volcanoes does not mean the entire national volcanic system is erupting or responding to one connected event.
Monitoring Map Identified Four Erupting Volcanoes
A review of the national volcano information map at magma.esdm.go.id on Tuesday, September 8, 2026, showed four volcanoes marked as erupting. The map uses a fire-emitting volcano symbol to identify volcanoes experiencing eruptions.
Heruningtyas Desi Purnamasari, head of the Volcano Observation Team at the Center for Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation, known as PVMBG, said the viral visuals did not establish the claimed nationwide eruption event.
“The volcanoes shown with fire are the ones currently erupting,” Tyas told Tempo on Monday, September 7, 2026.
The distinction matters because volcanic videos can be reused long after they were recorded, attached to a different location, or presented without information needed to assess what they show. A clip of ash, lava, or a glowing crater may document genuine volcanic activity, but it cannot by itself demonstrate that all Indonesian volcanoes are erupting at once.
Readers assessing such claims should look for the date of the footage, the volcano’s name, the location, and a link to a recognized monitoring authority. Images without those details should not be treated as proof of a major geological event.
Why Several Eruptions Do Not Signal One Connected Crisis
Several Indonesian volcanoes can erupt during the same period under normal geological conditions. Indonesia sits along tectonically active zones and contains many volcanoes with their own histories, magma reservoirs, conduits, and monitoring conditions. Their proximity within the same country does not make them part of one shared magma chamber.
Tyas explained that the characteristics of each volcanic system are separate. Differences in geological setting, tectonic position, and the age of individual volcanoes contribute to distinct magma pathways and chambers.
“Each volcano has its own system and characteristics regarding magma conduits or magma chambers. Even if they erupt during the same period, there is no link between them,” Tyas said.
This means that eruptions occurring at the same time are not automatically evidence that one volcano caused another to erupt. Volcanoes may each be responding to conditions within their own systems, including movement of magma, gas pressure, and local geological processes.
The United States Geological Survey has also stated that evidence does not support the idea that an eruption at one volcano triggers an eruption at another located hundreds of kilometers away or on a different continent. Claims of a national chain reaction therefore require far stronger evidence than a collection of unrelated videos.
What the Claim Gets Wrong
The viral narrative turns a limited set of active eruptions into a claim about every volcano in Indonesia. That is a major leap beyond the available evidence. On the relevant monitoring map, four volcanoes were identified as erupting, not all volcanoes across the archipelago.
It is also misleading to describe the situation as proof that dormant volcanoes had all awakened because of one unusual underground process. Volcano activity is monitored volcano by volcano, and alert information is tied to the status of each individual site. The presence of multiple active volcanoes does not establish a single national emergency or a unified underground event.
Volcanic alerts can have serious consequences for communities near an affected mountain, including possible hazards from ash, lava, volcanic gas, and other eruption-related activity. For that reason, accurate information is especially important. Broad, unsupported claims may create unnecessary alarm while distracting attention from location-specific guidance and official safety updates.
Verdict
The claim that all volcanoes in Indonesia were erupting simultaneously in early September 2026 is false. Monitoring information identified eruptions at Mount Anak Krakatau, Mount Semeru, Mount Lewotolok, and Mount Ibu only. Multiple eruptions in the same period can occur naturally, but the volcanoes involved have separate systems and there is no evidence that they were activated by one shared underground phenomenon.
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