Officials warn of spewing Merapi

The Volcanology Development and Investigation Agency in Yogyakarta warned the people in the area to stay alert with regard to Mount Merapi which often becomes more active during the rainy season.

"The heavy downpours over the last few days could throw up a lot of hot lava and steam and could place local people in harm's way," A. Ratdomopurbo, chief of the Volcanology Development and Investigation Agency, told The Jakarta Post from his observation post in Babakan, Magelang, Central Java, on Tuesday.

Ratdomopurbo said the volcano had spewed hot lava and steam twice recently, on Feb. 6 and Feb. 11 from a new crater which opened up last year.

"But the lava and steam is not as dangerous as the previous eruption which occurred in 1994," he said, in which dozens of residents of Turgo Village in Sleman, Yogyakarta, were killed.

He said the mountain's increased activity could be detected by the seismographic equipment installed in the observation post and through the NOAA satellite image.

"According to our observation, the lava that came out of the volcano's southwest direction and ended up in the Rivers Sat, Bebeng and Senowo in Central Java was caused by the heavy downpour that caused an outflow from its new crater," he said, adding that the lava spewage could be unpredictable.

Ratdomopurbo said the actual condition in the new crater could not be observed visually because of bad weather and the thick clouds covering the peak.

"The lava could cause a disaster to villagers near its slope if the land around the crater slides abruptly, pouring in hot lava to sweep every thing it goes through," he said.

He said the new crater contained around 4,000,000 cubic meters hot lava and was quite unstable.

"Whether the unstable crater will slide or not depends much on the rain which could cause pressure inside the crater that could erupt anytime," he said.

He said his office would continue to monitor closely the mountain's activities and would issue a preliminary warning to minimize victims as much as possible if the new crater becomes dangerous to population areas.