Mount Merapi evacuees told to stay in refuges
Mount Merapi evacuees told to stay in refuges
YOGYAKARTA (JP): Mount Merapi's activity decreased yesterday
although it continued sending tremors and streams of molten lava
down its slopes.
Despite the decrease in activity, the authorities kept the
alert at the highest level on the grounds that the situation
could unexpectedly change for the worse.
They were busy trying to convince the thousands of people
sheltered in temporary evacuation centers that it was too risky
to return yesterday.
"If until Jan. 22 nothing happens, they may go home," assured
Wimpy S. Tjetjep, the director of volcanology. "Although it looks
calmer, the volcanic activity could increase any time. People
shouldn't be caught off-guard."
At no time yesterday did Merapi spew the deadly heat clouds of
volcanic ash that usually claim the most fatalities in eruptions.
Wimpy said the gushing lava and frequent tremors indicated the
2,968-meter high volcano was still highly active and that it was
impossible to predict what might happen.
An estimated 18,000 people were evacuated to safer ground when
Merapi, bordering Central Java and Yogyakarta, erupted over the
weekend. The disaster affected the regencies of Magelang.
Boyolali, Sleman and Klaten.
The sound and heat from the eruption was heard and felt in the
ancient city of Yogyakarta, 35 kilometers to the south.
Experts in observation posts said they could not see where the
burning lava was heading for due to the heavy clouds hanging over
the mountain.
They are closely watching the enormous pool of lava that is
accumulating at the top of the volcano which they fear could
threaten the numerous villages along the rivers originating from
Merapi.
Wimpy estimated the accumulation of lava at about eight
million cubic meters.
"If heavy rains fall, the lava could slide and cause a
disaster," he said.
He said the cold lava could slide at a speed of 60 kilometers
an hour and the mud could reach the nearest Turgo village in only
six minutes.
"There is no way the villagers could avoid calamity if they
insist on staying," he said.
In the 1994 eruption, most of the 69 fatalities occurred in
Turgo where heat clouds burned people, cattle and crops. Many
villagers from Turgo, evacuated in last week's eruption, have
returned, ignoring official warnings.
In Klaten, thousands of people who returned to their villages
found the water in their wells no longer potable because it was
contaminated with sulfuric ash.
They called for the local government to supply drinking water
until the situation returned to normal.
Meanwhile, Central Java's governor appealed to people near
Merapi affected by the eruption to consider moving to the outer
islands under the state-sponsored transmigration program.
"Anyway, we won't force them to move. We hope they will
resettle voluntarily," he told The Jakarta Post. (har/23/pan)