Indonesian volcano lets off new blasts
Source: Agencies |
November 2, 2010, Tuesday
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Print Edition
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EVACUEES fled for cover yesterday as an erupting volcano - one of 22 showing increased activity in Indonesia - let loose explosions of hot gas and debris in its most powerful blast in a deadly week. No new casualties were reported.
The new blast from Mount Merapi came as Indonesia also struggles to respond to an earthquake-generated tsunami that devastated a remote chain of islands.
The twin disasters, unfolding simultaneously on opposite ends of the seismically volatile country, have killed nearly 500 people and severely tested the government's emergency response network. In both events, the military has been called in to help.
One of 129 active volcanoes in Indonesia, Merapi has killed 38 since it started erupting a week ago.
Even in the crowded government camps kilometers away, people still instinctively ran for shelter at the power of yesterday's eruption, which was accompanied by several deafening explosions, said Subrandrio, an official in charge of monitoring Merapi's activity.
About 69,000 people have been evacuated from the area around its once-fertile slopes - now blanketed by gray ash - in central Java, 400km east of Jakarta, the capital.
As clouds spilled from the glowing cauldron and billowed into the air, debris and ash cascaded nearly 6km down the southeastern slopes, Subrandrio said.
Merapi has erupted many times in the past two centuries, often with deadly results. In 1994, 60 people were killed, while in 1930, more than a dozen villages were incinerated, leaving up to 1,300 dead.
More than 1,300km to the west, meanwhile, a C-130 transport plane, six helicopters and four motorized boats were ferrying aid to the Mentawai Islands, where last week's tsunami destroyed hundreds of homes, churches and mosques.
The new blast from Mount Merapi came as Indonesia also struggles to respond to an earthquake-generated tsunami that devastated a remote chain of islands.
The twin disasters, unfolding simultaneously on opposite ends of the seismically volatile country, have killed nearly 500 people and severely tested the government's emergency response network. In both events, the military has been called in to help.
One of 129 active volcanoes in Indonesia, Merapi has killed 38 since it started erupting a week ago.
Even in the crowded government camps kilometers away, people still instinctively ran for shelter at the power of yesterday's eruption, which was accompanied by several deafening explosions, said Subrandrio, an official in charge of monitoring Merapi's activity.
About 69,000 people have been evacuated from the area around its once-fertile slopes - now blanketed by gray ash - in central Java, 400km east of Jakarta, the capital.
As clouds spilled from the glowing cauldron and billowed into the air, debris and ash cascaded nearly 6km down the southeastern slopes, Subrandrio said.
Merapi has erupted many times in the past two centuries, often with deadly results. In 1994, 60 people were killed, while in 1930, more than a dozen villages were incinerated, leaving up to 1,300 dead.
More than 1,300km to the west, meanwhile, a C-130 transport plane, six helicopters and four motorized boats were ferrying aid to the Mentawai Islands, where last week's tsunami destroyed hundreds of homes, churches and mosques.
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