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Jakarta. Increased volcanic activity at Mount Bromo in East Java has forced the temporary closure of the nearby Abdul Rachman Saleh Airport in Malang district, officials said on Monday, but this has not stopped tourists from flocking to the area.

Bromo began erupting last week after a yearlong lull, spewing out ash and volcanic debris but causing no injuries or serious damage.

The Transportation Ministry on Monday ordered the closure of the airport, which is just 25 kilometers from the volcano, for the next five days because the amount of ash spewing from Bromo had reached worrying levels.

Heri Cahyono, corporate secretary of state-owned airport operator Angkasa Pura II, confirmed that the airport would be closed to all flights until Saturday.

Despite the closure, tourists are continuing to pour into the area to get a firsthand look at Bromo’s smoldering caldera.

Subur, head of operations for the Bromo Semeru National Park, said there had been a marked increase in the number of visitors to the park since the alert status for the volcano was raised to its highest level last week.

He said that as a safety precaution, park officials were preventing anyone from going within three kilometers of the crater.

He also said park officials had waived the usual entrance fees of between Rp 6,000 and Rp 25,000 for visitors.

“It’s unethical to charge people during a disaster like this,” Subur said. “It would be like taking advantage of the misery.”

Bromo continued to put on a spectacular display on Monday, spewing ash and rocks up to 700 meters into the atmosphere, in the general direction of Malang and Pasuruan districts.

Several volcanic earthquakes were also felt but there was no immediate word on their frequency or intensity.

The East Java administration said it was preparing for the worst-case scenario of a major eruption.

“We’ve prepared 10 evacuation camps and will keep informing people about what they need to do should there be a major eruption,” Deputy Governor Syaifullah Yusuf said on Monday at the vice president’s office in Jakarta.

“We’ve devised plans for all eruption scenarios.”

He said the first scenario was for an evacuation of villages within a three-kilometer radius of the crater, which he said would involve almost 700 people.

In the second scenario, in which the exclusion zone would be extended to six kilometers, some 2,800 people would have to be evacuated, while the third and worst-case scenario, a 10-kilometer exclusion zone, would see about 6,900 people evacuated.

But in the 2004 eruption, Bromo’s worst in recent history, only areas within two kilometers of the crater were affected.

“We’re still planning for the worst,” Syaifullah said. “We hope the alert status can be downgraded, but from the reports we’ve received, it could take up to seven days before that happens.”

He said his administration had earmarked Rp 59 billion ($6.5 million) to help the four districts that Bromo straddles — Malang, Pasuruan, Probolinggo and Lumajang — deal with the aftermath of a major eruption.