Indonesia’s most active volcano erupted yesterday with its biggest lava flow in months, sending a river of lava and searing gas clouds flowing 3.5km down its slopes on the densely populated island of Java.
The rumbling sound could be heard several kilometers away as Mount Merapi erupted, sending hot ash 600m into the sky. Ash blanketed nearby towns, but long-established evacuation orders are in place near the volcano, and no casualties were reported.
It was Merapi’s biggest lava flow since authorities raised its danger level in November last year, said Hanik Humaida, head of Yogyakarta’s Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation Center.
Photo: AFP
The lava dome just below Merapi’s southwest rim and the lava dome in the crater have been active since the end of last month, she said.
Yesterday morning, the volume at the southwest rim dome was estimated at 1.8 million cubic meters and about 3m tall before partially collapsing, sending pyroclastic flows rapidly down the southwest flank at least twice.
The 2,968m peak is near Yogyakarta, an ancient city of several hundred thousand people embedded in a large metro area on the island of Java. The city is a center of Javanese culture and a seat of royal dynasties going back centuries.
Merapi’s alert status has been at the second-highest of four levels since it began erupting in November last year, and the center has not raised it, despite the past week’s increased volcanic activity.
People are advised to stay 5km from the crater’s mouth and to watch out for lava, the agency said.
Ash from the eruption blanketed several villages and nearby towns, Humaida said.
Cloudy weather obscured views of the peak yesterday morning.
Mount Merapi is the most active of more than 120 active volcanoes in Indonesia, and lately has repeatedly erupted with lava and gas clouds.
Authorities in November evacuated nearly 2,000 people living on the fertile slopes of the mountain in Magelang and Sleman districts, and about 550 more people in January, but most have since returned.
Merapi’s last major eruption in 2010 killed 347 people and caused the evacuation of 20,000 villagers.
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