Posted 02 May 2006 @ 10:49
Updated 02 May 2006 @ 11:00
YOGYAKARTA, 02 May 2006 - Mount Merapi has grown 10 metres in height in three days with pools of lava forming at its smoking summit. Experts fear an eruption could be imminent. Villagers living on the slopes of the 2,914-metre peak has been on standby alert for more than three weeks.
That is one level below that which would require a mandatory evacuation for more than 29,000 people living around its fertile slopes.
Volcano watchers said a new dome of lava had formed in recent days and was getting bigger all the time, while yellow clouds of sulphur continued to spew out. "The dome has appeared on the southern part of the peak, while tremors are fluctuating in high numbers," vulcanologist Subandriyo said. Lava domes meant the cone-shaped volcano could erupt any day and its top has grown as trapped magma from a reservoir 1.5km below the summit began welling up on Sunday, he said.
The collapse of a lava dome can cause superheated pyroclastic flows of gas down the mountain sides. Authorities have yet to order villagers living on the mountain to evacuate this time. However, after the revered local ruler, Sultan Hamengkubuwono X of Yogyakarta, has pleaded with people go, some pregnant women and children left voluntarily for refugee shelters in the villages of Argomulyo, Wukirsari and Gayam.
Yogyakarta, 20 kilometres from the mountain, is a centre for several leading Indonesian universities.
Travel warnings from Canberra say Australians staying or living in the area should be prepared to evacuate along routes already prepared by local authorities. Subandriyo," the head of vulcanology of the Yogyakarta Agency for the Assessment and Application of Technology, said Merapi was ready to erupt at any time. "We no longer need to do measurements. Magma is already at the surface," he told Indonesian media.
Many local people have been reluctant to leave the mountain, preferring to take the advice of local mystics who believe Merapi will only erupt after certain omens including mysterious beams of light shining over its steep flanks. Some have slaughtered goats and chickens as offerings to the mountain, while others have held joint Muslim and Christian prayer gatherings.
The mountain has spiritual significance for many Javanese and is one of only four places where the royal palaces of Yogyakarta and Solo make offerings to placate the ancient Javanese spirits. Merapi sits atop the unstable meeting point of the Australian and Asian geographic plates, creating the so called "ring of fire". A large eruption in 1006 covered all of central Java with ash, destroying the local Hindu Kingdom and opening the island to Muslim rule.
1 May 2006 - The volcano where it's all about. Gunung Merapi in the early morning. As usual the volcano is exhausting a cloud of smoke, but it's not much more than on a usual day. This doesn't mean that the volcano is back to sleep however, seismic movements inside the volcano are still recorded frequently.
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