Residents return as Merapi calms
Residents return as Merapi calms
YOGYAKARTA (JP): Residents living at the foot of Mount Merapi
have suspended plans to evacuate their homes after the volcano on
Sunday showed only minor signs of the potential fury which had
been so evident a day earlier.
"The volcano is calm today (Sunday) after days of spewing hot
smoke and lava which reached up to 6.5 kilometers from its peak,"
unit head at the Yogyakarta-based Volcanic Technology and
Research Development Station (BPPTK), Antonius Ratdomo Purbo said
on Sunday.
Nevertheless Antonius warned that the volcano remained
dangerous nevertheless, especially the likelihood of spewing heat
clouds.
"The previous (Saturday) eruption caused instability in the
existing lava dome. This means that it may collapse anytime and
create heat clouds in the next few days."
"That's why we retained the alert status and continue
monitoring the lava dome. Ash rain, however, has subsided,"
Antonius said.
The 2,968-meter-high volcano has shown increasing activity in
the past few weeks but some 12,000 residents settled around
mountain seem reluctant to leave.
BPPTK chief Syamsul Rizal renewed on Sunday his office's call
for residents and sand miners near the volcano to leave their
homes.
"We have repeatedly warned people in the radius of eight
kilometers from the foot of the mountain to leave since Saturday
but they returned home again on Sunday," he said, lamenting the
"stubbornness" of the people.
Sand-miners living along the banks of the Sat and Senowo
rivers also had been ordered to evacuate their homes, he added.
In the 1994 eruption, 60 residents of Turgo village on the
southern side of the volcano's slope died of extreme exposure
when heat clouds descended on their village.
Meanwhile residents of Dukun and Srumbung sub-districts
continued life as usual on Sunday. They live in an area
considered to be one of the most vulnerable to heat clouds.
"No one has left their home, but we'll stay alert," Sumanto,
an official at Dukun sub-district told The Jakarta Post.
Another resident of Srumbung sub-district, Ranu, said that
sand miners had only temporarily stopped working.
Health officials have distributed thousands of masks to
residents in three main districts on the east side of the
mountain as well as in the cities of Klaten and Surakarta to
protect people from ash after Saturday's volcanic activity.
Ash rain, which contains sulfur, magnesium and silica, can
cause respiratory illnesses, skin irritation, diarrhea and severe
eye infections.
As of Sunday, Merapi's alert status remain unchanged since it
was raised to the second highest level. The volcanology office
recognizes four danger levels for a volcano -- normal, aware,
prepared and alert (Awas) -- the last being the signal for an
imminent eruption. (44/edt)