Scientist warns rain may trigger Merapi lava flow

YOGYAKARTA (JP): A scientist here is warning the lava flow from Mt. Merapi volcano could intensify with the likelihood of heavier rains.

Director of the Center for Natural Disaster Studies, Sudibyakto, said yesterday that much-predicted rainfall from the La Nina global weather phenomenon could trigger increased lava flow down the mountain.

La Nina has been forecast to bring more rain in the present dry season, which normally lasts until October.

Sudibyakto said areas likely to be most affected by rain- triggered lava flow were Kaliurang, on the outskirts of Yogyakarta, along with Srumbung and Dukun in Magelang regency.

"Yogyakarta and Muntilan could even be affected in heavy rainfall."

People living in the areas must also be reminded and kept alert of the imminent threat, Sudibyakto said.

While the alert status of the 2,911-meter-high volcano has been downgraded since an eruption over the weekend, Merapi continues to spew lava, ash and smoke.

As many as four million cubic meters of volcanic debris gushed from Merapi last week and is now settling on the hillside.

"The materials are vulnerable, they could slide easily. If there is a heavy rain, it will wash down as intensified lava flow," head of the volcanology directorate's research office here, Mas Atje Purbawinata, said separately.

Merapi is one of the world's most active volcanoes.

A sudden eruption in 1994 produced a huge steam cloud that rushed down its slopes and flattened a village, killing 60 inhabitants and severely burning others.

Its most destructive eruption this century killed 1,300 people in 1930.

Residents around the mountain were put on an alert during the weekend when ash, gas and lava poured from its crater, but none were subsequently evacuated. (23/44)