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Lava flows down volcano
16/05/2006 07:51 - (SA)
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| Mount Merapi shows signs of erupting. (AP) |
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Mount Merapi - Lava streamed
down the sides of Indonesia's mystical Mount Merapi on Tuesday,
but the clouds of hot gas belching from the top were
substantially smaller than the day before.
More than 22 000 people have been evacuated from its slopes.
Around the base of the mountain that some Indonesians
consider sacred, thousands of residents went about their daily
lives despite warnings a major eruption could come anytime.
Vulcanologists said Merapi was in its final eruption phase
and feared the possible collapse of a swelling lava dome at the
top, which could trigger more massive and dangerous clouds and
sprays of lava.
During its last eruption in 1994, most of the 70 deaths
were caused by the outpouring of hot ash and other material
following the collapse of a lava dome.
No ash falls
When, or if, this might happen again was uncertain, said
Triyani, an official at the Centre of Vulcanological Research
and Technology Development in Yogyakarta near Mount Merapi.
"We cannot predict, because this mountain is unique," she
said of the nearly 3 M conical-shaped
volcano in the centre of Java island.
On Tuesday, lava flows could be seen in the pre-dawn hours,
although they did not threaten populated areas, while the
clouds around the summit looked to be about half the size of
Monday's, Reuters witnesses said.
No ash falls were reported, unlike Monday when grey ash
coated fields and houses near the mountain.
"By 06:00 this morning there were 11 hot clouds" that had
erupted from the mountain, said Triyani.
She told Reuters by telephone that the biggest was two
kilometres in length down the side of the mountain,
while on Monday the cloud length had reached four kilometres.
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono is scheduled to fly to
the near-by city of Solo on Tuesday. Solo lies around 50km from Merapi.
Vulcanologists say as the clouds emerge from the crater
their temperature can approach 1 000°C, although the temperature drops rapidly
once the gas shoots up into the air.
Indonesia raised the alert status of Merapi on Saturday to
the highest level, known as code red or danger status, and
moved more than 5 l000 people living near the volcano to
shelters.
Some villagers consider the volcano sacred. Most Javanese,
who make up the bulk of Indonesia's 220 million people, are
Muslim, but many cling to a spiritual past and believe a
supernatural kingdom exists on top of Merapi. - Reuters/AFP
- News24
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