Mt. Merapi death toll rises to 27

Mt. Merapi death toll rises to 27

YOGYAKARTA (JP): Mount Merapi remained active as the official
body counts from Tuesday's eruption rose to 27 yesterday and
5,000 people fled to safer ground from nearby villages.

Search and rescue workers said 34 people were still missing,
while health authorities listed 500 people admitted to hospitals
in the city, or treated at the temporary health posts set up in
evacuation centers in Sleman.

In the stricken villages at the foot of the 2,865 meter high
mountain, the authorities killed 90 head of cattle which were
suffering from serious burns from the volcanic ashes that have
rained over a vast area.

Fifteen bodies were buried in a mass grave in Jamblangan
village, Sleman. Another nine were claimed by their families to
be buried separately. The bodies were transferred to the
authority of the village chief of Purbowingangun, one of the
worst hit villages, in a tearful ceremony attended by Sultan
Hamengkubuwono IX.

President Soeharto sent his condolences to the victims'
families yesterday and promised to send in relief aid to the
stricken areas.

Minister/State Secretary Moerdiono told journalists that
Soeharto ordered his adjutant to call the Sleman regent for
firsthand information as soon as he heard about the disaster on
Tuesday.

Although less intensely than on Tuesday, the volcano continued
to spew clouds of hot ashes into the sky and to spill out burning
lava in all directions yesterday. Nearby areas remain designated
as danger zones.

One of 127 volcanoes in Indonesia, Mount Merapi also continued
to emit black smoke, darkening surrounding areas as far away as
Boyolali, Magelang, Temanggung, Kebumen and Cilacap.

Mas Ace Purbawinata of the Yogyakarta-based Merapi observation
agency said the cooled lava accumulating on the mount's slopes
was an imminent threat to thousands of residents if heavy rains
washed it down.

Mount Merapi, located about 30 kilometers north of here,
spewed clouds of ash and steam with temperatures estimated at
between 300 and 600 degrees Celsius. The clouds of steam and ash
engulfed the villages to the south of the volcano, burning more
than 150 houses and trees, injuring cattle and people.

There were at least four eruptions and 40 quakes recorded
yesterday.

Sources at four Yogyakarta hospitals to which many of the
victims were admitted told The Jakarta Post that 60 people
suffered serious burn injuries.

Twenty workers of a water pipe installation project at the
Kaliurang tourist amusement center, who had been declared missing
on Tuesday, were found alive yesterday. Four of them were
admitted to the hospital for injuries.

Central Java Governor Soewardi said the government was ready
to move 4,000 residents in Dukun subdistrict, Muntilan, if things
got worse.

Doctor Djoko Rijanto of Panti Raoih Hospital said that five
people died from serious burns yesterday.

An official at the volcanology agency in Yogyakarta, R.
Sukyar, told the Post that he expected the eruptions would stop
at the end of the month. By early December, areas near Mt. Merapi
should be safe, he said.

Merapi has shown a high level of activity since August this
year, jolting the areas with tremors and spewing lava in
September. Officials at the observation post recorded four quakes
in October. Early this month the authorities declared the
surrounding areas as danger zones and told people living there to
be alert.

Public kitchens have been erected at the evacuation posts.
Medicine, food supplies, clothes, water and other aid have been
streaming in from various agencies, including the Indonesian Red
Cross. The Indonesian Poultry Association has contributed Rp 100
million for the victims.

Yogyakarta Governor Sri Paku Alam VIII, visiting the victims
in the evacuation areas, advised the villagers to join the state-
sponsored transmigration program. (02/wah/mun/har/sim)

Editorial -- Page 4