• E-mail
• Print
• Comment
• Font Size
• Digg
• del.icio.us
• Discuss article

Indonesia's Merapi volcano spews steam, hot ash

Posted on: Sunday, 14 May 2006, 22:18 CDT

By Tomi Soetjipto

YOGYAKARTA, Indonesia (Reuters) - Indonesia's Mount Merapi volcano spewed hot clouds and ash rain early on Monday, a volcanologist said, but there was no confirmation of reports of fresh lava flows.

Yogyakarta Administration Secretary Bambang Susanto had earlier told Elshinta news radio that, according to information he had received, the mountain "exploded" in the pre-dawn hours with lava and hot ash.

However, Ratmono Purbo, the head of the volcanology center in Yogyakarta near the volcano, told reporters that he had confirmation only of clouds and hot ash rains.

Neither are new since activity picked up in recent weeks on Merapai, one of the most menacing volcanoes in the Pacific "Ring of Fire."

But Purbo said of the hot clouds: "This is the biggest pile we have so far."

They "are billowing out of the crater for four kilometers (2.5 miles)."

Ash rain fell on some parts of the mountain slopes but had not reached populated areas, Purbo said.

Indonesia raised the alert status of Merapi to the highest level, also known as code red or danger status, on Saturday, although experts said they could not predict when it would erupt.

Senior government volcanologist Ahmad Dali of the volcanology coordinating center in Bandung said an eruption of the volcano would be defined as volcanic material being ejected straight into the sky to a substantial height.

Thick clouds of charcoal gray smoke billowed periodically from the crater on Sunday, but there were no visible signs of lava flowing, as it already has on several occasions in recent days.

The top alert level for the mountain means residents can be forced to evacuate, and authorities moved more than 5,000 people living near the volcano to shelters in safe areas after the new alert level.

But some still have refused to leave their homes while others who have continue to return during the days to tend livestock, collect grass, or otherwise carry on their routines.

Indonesia, which has the world's highest density of volcanoes, has been struggling to conduct mass evacuation as many residents would rather rely on natural signs than official orders.

Residents say signals would include lightning around the mountain's peak or animals moving down its slopes.

Officials put the total number of residents on and near the mountain at around 14,000.

(With additional reporting by Harry Suhartono and Diyan Jari)

Source: REUTERS

More News in this Category