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News
> Mount Merapi
volcano explodes with gas, ash

news/VOLCANIC
ACTIVITY
Mount Merapi volcano
explodes with gas, ash

Posted 15 May 2006
@ 07:03
Updated 15 May
2006 @ 08:21

KETEP, 15
May 2006 - Indonesia's Mount Merapi
volcano exploded with clouds of hot gas and ash rain early on
Monday, sending some villagers who had been reluctant to leave
scurrying for safety. Grey ash covered some vegetation and
rooftops in the area of Ketep, 10 kms (six miles) from the
base of the mountain, and many houses appeared deserted after
residents evacuated.

Not everyone was gone, however.
Some people cleaned ashes off their houses and others opened
shops, while commercial mini-buses continued to run. The
mountain "has exploded already", the head of the Merapi
section at the Centre of Vulcanological Research and
Technology in Yogyakarta told Reuters. He cautioned, however,
that the mountain's eruption process could be gradual rather
than a sudden burst.

14 May 2006: The Merapi volcano
releases a huge cloud of hot gas, as seen from Pakem
village on the outskirts of Yogyakarta.

From Ketep, the top
of Merapi was totally obscured by thick grey and white clouds,
which trailed down the volcano's slopes. Earlier, Ratmono
Purbo, the head of the vulcanology centre in Yogyakarta near
the volcano, told reporters the mountain was spewing clouds of
hot gas and was raining down ash. Neither are new since
activity picked up in recent weeks on Merapi, one of the most
menacing volcanoes in the Pacific "Ring of Fire", and there
have been several lava flows in past days.

But Purbo
said of Monday's hot clouds: "This is the biggest pile we have
so far, adding that they "are billowing out of the crater for
four kilometres (2.5 miles)". Indonesia raised on Saturday the
alert status of Merapi to the highest level, also known as
code red or danger status, although experts said they could
not predict when it would erupt.

They have described
the mountain as being in an "eruption phase" for weeks, but
are looking for a substantial amount of volcanic material to
be ejected straight into the sky to a substantial height to
qualify it as a full eruption. The top alert level for the
mountain means residents can be forced to evacuate.
Authorities moved more than 5,000 people living near the
volcano to shelters in safe areas after the new alert
level.

Thousands more moved earlier, but some have
refused to leave their homes while others have continued to
return during the days to tend livestock, collect grass, or
otherwise carry on their daily routines. Indonesian media
reports said many who previously held back were leaving on
Monday, carried in hundreds of trucks and cars. Some residents
would rather rely on natural signs than official orders. They
say those signals would include lightning around the
mountain's peak or animals moving down its
slopes.

[ © Reuters ]

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