No surface changes or other alarming signs have been observed at the volcano. While an eruption is not considered likely to be imminent, VSI maintains the alert level 2 (on a scale of 1-4) and advises locals and visitors not to climb Makian's Kie Besi volcano and stay away from the summit within a radius of 1.5 km distance. [less]

The stratovolcano, which forms a small island south of Ternate (and is in the center line of tomorrow's Solar Eclipse, where one of our groups is currently stationed...), is one of the regions most active (and dangerous) volcanoes with a number of strong explosive eruptions in historic times, last in 1988.
Already on 2 June 2009, a similar increase in internal activity had triggered a raise in alert level, but unrest declined soon after again and the volcano was placed back to normal again on 16 July, as no further changes in activity had been detected. [less]