YOGYAKARTA, Indonesia (AFP) - – Indonesia warned residents living in the shadow of the nation's most active volcano to evacuate on Tuesday or risk being killed by a major eruption.
Authorities put an area 10 kilometres (six miles) around the crater of Mount Merapi on red alert Monday, ordering 19,000 people to flee with the possibility of a large-scale blast looking increasingly likely.
"Merapi has escalated tremendously. We have recorded more than 600 multi-phased volcanic earthquakes since yesterday," government volcanologist Surono warned, adding that fewer than 500 were recorded on Sunday.
"People who live on certain areas around the mountain should evacuate as soon as possible," he said.
But officials said nearly 15,000 people defiantly ignored the order despite several minor eruptions sending lava spewing down Merapi's southern slopes.
Many people sleeping in camps have returned to their homes during the day to work and tend to their cattle. Some men are refusing to leave altogether, confident they will be able to escape in time.
Field coordinator Widi Sutikno, of the Sleman district on the southern slopes of the 2,914-metre (9,616-foot) mountain, said only about 3,700 people out of 11,400 in his area had sought shelter in makeshift refuges.
"We have evacuated many women, pregnant women, sick people, elderly people and children," Sutikno said.
"We let some people return to their fields for their daily activity. But they need to go back to the camps and not their houses," he said.
Sukamto, 50, a farmer, said his family had been evacuated but he still needed to tend his cows.
"It's still fine for me to work, as I can see when the volcano will erupt from here. I work at around eight kilometres from the top of Merapi and I think it's still safe," Sukamto said.
"However, I still have to be really careful here," he said.
The Jakarta Post reported that Merapi had erupted three times on Monday afternoon, spewing lava down its southern and southeastern slopes.
Indonesia has more active volcanoes than any other country.
Merapi's last fatal eruption was in June 2006, when it killed two people, and volcanologists have warned that it currently has more energy than before that blast.
Its deadliest eruption occurred in 1930 when more than 1,300 people were killed. Heat clouds from another eruption in 1994 killed more than 60 people.
The volcano lies around 25 kilometres north of the city of Yogyakarta on Java island.
In August, the 2,460-metre (8,100 foot) Mount Sinabung on the island of Sumatra erupted for the first time in 400 years, sending thousands of people into temporary shelters and disrupting flights.
Mount Sinabung is near Lake Toba, a 100-kilometre long volcanic crater that some archaeologists believe threatened the survival of the human race when it erupted between 69,000 and 77,000 years ago. Read more at http://sg.news.yahoo.com/afp/20101025/tap-indonesia-volcano-aeccaac.html
Authorities put an area 10 kilometres (six miles) around the crater of Mount Merapi on red alert Monday, ordering 19,000 people to flee with the possibility of a large-scale blast looking increasingly likely.
"Merapi has escalated tremendously. We have recorded more than 600 multi-phased volcanic earthquakes since yesterday," government volcanologist Surono warned, adding that fewer than 500 were recorded on Sunday.
"People who live on certain areas around the mountain should evacuate as soon as possible," he said.
But officials said nearly 15,000 people defiantly ignored the order despite several minor eruptions sending lava spewing down Merapi's southern slopes.
Many people sleeping in camps have returned to their homes during the day to work and tend to their cattle. Some men are refusing to leave altogether, confident they will be able to escape in time.
Field coordinator Widi Sutikno, of the Sleman district on the southern slopes of the 2,914-metre (9,616-foot) mountain, said only about 3,700 people out of 11,400 in his area had sought shelter in makeshift refuges.
"We have evacuated many women, pregnant women, sick people, elderly people and children," Sutikno said.
"We let some people return to their fields for their daily activity. But they need to go back to the camps and not their houses," he said.
Sukamto, 50, a farmer, said his family had been evacuated but he still needed to tend his cows.
"It's still fine for me to work, as I can see when the volcano will erupt from here. I work at around eight kilometres from the top of Merapi and I think it's still safe," Sukamto said.
"However, I still have to be really careful here," he said.
The Jakarta Post reported that Merapi had erupted three times on Monday afternoon, spewing lava down its southern and southeastern slopes.
Indonesia has more active volcanoes than any other country.
Merapi's last fatal eruption was in June 2006, when it killed two people, and volcanologists have warned that it currently has more energy than before that blast.
Its deadliest eruption occurred in 1930 when more than 1,300 people were killed. Heat clouds from another eruption in 1994 killed more than 60 people.
The volcano lies around 25 kilometres north of the city of Yogyakarta on Java island.
In August, the 2,460-metre (8,100 foot) Mount Sinabung on the island of Sumatra erupted for the first time in 400 years, sending thousands of people into temporary shelters and disrupting flights.
Mount Sinabung is near Lake Toba, a 100-kilometre long volcanic crater that some archaeologists believe threatened the survival of the human race when it erupted between 69,000 and 77,000 years ago. Read more at http://sg.news.yahoo.com/afp/20101025/tap-indonesia-volcano-aeccaac.html
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