Indonesia volcanic eruption churns out clouds of ash and lava for a second day
- Pyroclastic flows – avalanches of rock, ash and volcanic gas – burst from the mountain’s actively growing lava dome inside the crater
- Mount Merapi near Yogyakarta is the most volatile of more than 120 active volcanoes in Indonesia, and one of the most active worldwide
A volcanic eruption on Indonesia’s turbulent Mount Merapi churned and boiled on Monday, sending renewed flows of lava and ash down its slopes for a second day.
Pyroclastic flows – avalanches of rock, ash and volcanic gas – burst from the mountain’s actively growing lava dome inside the crater.
The 2,968-metre (9,737-foot) peak is near Yogyakarta, an ancient city of several hundred thousand people embedded in a large metro area on the island of Java. The city is a centre of Javanese culture and a seat of royal dynasties going back centuries.
Mount Merapi’s last major eruption in 2010 killed 347 people. Villagers living on Merapi’s fertile slopes were advised to stay away from the crater’s mouth.
Hanik Humaida, the head of Yogyakarta’s Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation Centre, said the lava dome had been partially collapsing since Sunday, when the latest eruption began. The initial blast sent hot ash 1,000 metres (3,280 feet) into the atmosphere.