Mount Merapi cooling down

Mount Merapi cooling down

YOGYAKARTA: There has been a decrease in the activity of Mount
Merapi, located between Central Java and Yogyakarta, but the
local administration is maintaining its alert status on the
volcano in anticipation of further eruptions.

The head of the Yogyakarta Volcano Technological Development
and Research Station, Syamsul Rizal, said here on Tuesday the
last activity of any note occurred at 9:28 a.m. on Monday, when a
cloud of hot gas was discharged over a distance of three
kilometers.

Other hot clouds were spewed on Monday, but they were shorter
bursts and covered less distance, Rizal said. "Instrumental
observation today (Tuesday) doesn't even detect any hot cloud
discharge, but lava is still flowing over a distance of three
kilometers," Rizal said.

He said that visual observation was impossible due to the
thick clouds around the peak of the volcano.

Although the volcanic activities are declining, it was
suggested that people living along the slopes of the mountain
leave the area and stop quarrying for sand.

According to Rizal, the current conditions could mean one of
two things. First, the volcanic activity is really cooling down,
or the volcano is "gathering more strength" to explode.

"We do not have any reference, but the two possibilities have
happened before," he said. (swa)