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Post by twodogs on May 15, 2006 9:04:45 GMT 7
 Indonesia's Mount Merapi volcano has erupted, according to Antara news agency. The volcano, active since last April, erupted at 0540 am local time (2240 GMT Sunday), the Indonesian national news agency said. Other details weren't immediately available. Weeks before the eruption, there had been intense activity at the 2,914-metre (9,560-foot) peak in the densely-populated Central Java province. Blazing lava had been oozing down the slopes of Merapi and on Saturday, vulcanologists raised Merapi's alert status, triggering the evacuation of thousands of people from its fertile slopes. But many others had been defying orders for a mandatory evacuation and were insisting on staying in their homes. Officials have not released overall figures for the number of people who are considered to be in the immediate danger zone, but Vice President Yusuf Kalla said last week that about 34,000 were considered to be at risk. Merapi last erupted in 1994, killing 66 people. |
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Post by twodogs on May 15, 2006 9:06:42 GMT 7
will this eruption causes another earthquake in Indonesia and lead to another Tsunami?   |
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Post by twodogs on May 19, 2006 13:50:56 GMT 7
JAKARTA : Indonesia's rumbling Mount Merapi is now relatively quiet despite an official warning that an eruption may be imminent remaining in place.
The volcano -- Indonesia's second most active -- was placed on its top alert last Saturday, triggering the evacuation of thousands of residents living around its fertile slopes in Central Java.
In the first six hours of Friday three heat clouds shot down the slopes from the crater for two kilometres (one mile), not reaching inhabited areas, the vulcanology office in the nearby major city of Yogyakarta said.
Seventy-one tremors related to lava outflows were recorded but none of the trails blazing down the mountain earlier in the week were visible, official Triyani told AFP.
On Thursday, smoke streaming from the peak reached only 100 metres (yards) into the air, 12 heat clouds belched from the volcano's depths reaching a maximum of three kilometres and 26 lava outflows were seen, she said.
Scientists have warned that the volcano -- whose name means "Mountain of Fire" -- remains potentially dangerous despite the apparent slowdown in activity.
They say a dome which has formed rapidly at its peak may still collapse, forcing millions of cubic metres of volcanic rock, lava and debris down the slopes along with the deadly heat clouds.
Refugees however have been drifting back to their homes to look after their crops and animals, unconvinced they remain at risk.
The total number of refugees has fallen by about 2,400 since Tuesday, a day after the volcano was at his most active since the alert was declared.
Some 19,715 people are now registered as staying in camps or are receiving aid and being tracked by authorities, official data showed.
Merapi's deadliest eruption occurred in 1930 when more than 1,300 people were killed.
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