11 APRIL
2014
Mount
Merapi, Gunung Merapi (literally Fire Mountain in Indonesian/Javanese), is an
active stratovolcano located on the border between Central Java and Yogyakarta,
Indonesia. It is the most active volcano in Indonesia and has erupted regularly
since 1548. It is located approximately 28 kilometres (17 mi) north of the
large Yogyakarta city, and thousands of people live on the flanks of the
volcano, with villages as high as 1,700 metres (5,600 ft) above sea level.
Smoke can
be seen emerging from the mountaintop at least 300 days a year, and several
eruptions have caused fatalities. Pyroclastic flow from a large explosion
killed 27 people on 22 November in 1994, mostly in the town of Muntilan, west
of the volcano.Another large eruption occurred in 2006, shortly before the
Yogyakarta earthquake. In light of the hazards that Merapi poses to populated
areas, it has been designated as one of the Decade Volcanoes.
On 25
October 2010 the Indonesian government raised the alert for Mount Merapi to its
highest level and warned villagers in threatened areas to move to safer ground.
People living within a 20 km (12 mi) zone were told to evacuate. Officials said
about 500 volcanic earthquakes had been recorded on the mountain over the
weekend of 23–24 October, and that the magma had risen to about 1 kilometre
(3,300 ft) below the surface due to the seismic activity. On the afternoon of
25 October 2010 Mount Merapi erupted lava from its southern and southeastern
slopes.
The mountain was still erupting on
30 November 2010 however due to lowered eruptive activity on 3 December 2010
the official alert status was reduced to level 3.[5] The volcano is now 2930
metres high, 38 metres lower than before the 2010 eruptions.
After a
large eruption in 2010 the characteristic of the Mount Merapi was changed. On
November 18, 2013 Mount Merapi burst smoke up to 2,000 meters height, one of
its first major phreatic eruption after the 2010 eruption. Researchers said
that this eruption occurred due to combined effect of hot volcaninc gases and
abundant rainfall.
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