Merapi strikes again

From time to time Mother Nature still asks for sacrifices from our people. In a country, which is dotted by so many volcanoes and crisscrossed by wild rivers, we are often reminded that the behavior of the nature is still beyond our power to control. Many rivers overflow during rainy seasons, inundating not only our rural areas, but also our urban centers, and, here and there, the volcanoes erupt. The list of natural disasters could be longer if we considered the earthquakes, which are usually followed by tsunami, both of them prodigious killers.

Although western accounts of volcanic activity seldom substantially mention Indonesia, this country, which sprawls over the equator, is home to 127 volcanoes, which stretch along a belt called the Pacific Ring of Fire. Although only a few among the 127 volcanoes remain active, eruptions have cause immense loss of life and property.

Indonesia is affected by what scientists call tectonic plates. Theories about the phenomena explain why most volcanoes -- as well as most earthquakes -- occur only in certain places. The basic idea is that the earth's outer shell in divided into a number of rigid sections of rock, called plates. The plates slide or drift about continuously over a layer of partly melted rock. They move about 1.5 centimeters to 20 centimeters a year, and as they do so, their boundaries collide, spread apart, or slide past one another. Most volcanoes, scientists say, occur at the plate boundaries.

Due to the menacing behavior of this nation's natural environment, many Indonesians have studied volcanology. They have investigated the nature and causes of volcanic eruptions and on many occasions have helped save many lives. Yet no matter how much knowledge is achieved, it remains exceedingly difficult to predict when and where eruptions will occur.

Mt. Merapi, which erupted violently on Tuesday, is classified as one of the most active volcanoes in the world, although its worst eruption happened 64 years ago. Since then it has occasionally threatened surrounding villages with lava flows.

In January 1992, Merapi threatened to submerge the surrounding villages with molten lava and the local people were warned of the looming danger. Vulcanologists could not predict whether the situation would become worse, they only knew the volcano was putting out lava. Fortunately, the following days saw Merapi's activities declining.

But no warnings whatsoever were heard from the experts about the possibility that the volcano would erupt on Tuesday.

What happened was tragedy and disaster. More than 20 people were killed, many others have been declared missing and many more are still suffering from serious burns.

Survivors say the eruption was so sudden that they did not have enough time to run to safety.

We understand that it is difficult to predict volcanic activities, but we wonder why nobody sounded any kind of warning even though it was clear that the volcano was showing an increased level of activity on Sunday. It might have been a case of mistaken interpretation because the volcano has threatened a powerful explosion so many times since 1930.

In view of what happened this week, it is best not to waste time wringing our hands and wondering why so many had to die. It is time for the government and other parties concerned with this sector to pay more attention to the volcanic threat, for example, by supplying vulcanologists with the latest devices in order to enable them to measure the expansion of volcanoes and to predict eruptions more accurately.