Administratively the island forms one village (desa) within Wera District (kecamatan) of Bima Regency; it covers a land area of 165.76 km2 and had a population of 4,739 in mid 2023.

It is located northeast of Sumbawa in the Flores Sea and is 13 km wide with an area of 153 km2.

[4] The earliest document mentioning the Sang Hyang Api volcano was found in 14th century Majapahit script of Nagarakretagama.

"Gunung Api" also appears as the name for the mountain in the first chapter of the novel The Long Journey by Johannes V. Jensen.

[7] By the next morning, the ash cloud had crossed the northwest coast of Australia in the Kimberley region, and airlines had cancelled flights into and from Darwin, Northern Territory.