Mount Merapi, located on the border between the Indonesian province of Central Java and the Special Region of Yogyakarta, erupted twice, spewing smoke and ash.
The country’s geological disaster institute BPPTKG in a written statement reported that the volcano spewed hot ash at 5.50 a.m. and 5.59 a.m. local time on Tuesday.
Authorities have told nearby residents to avoid the area within a seven-kilometre radius of the crater, reports said.
The status of Mount Merapi, the most active of Indonesia’s 130 volcanoes, has stayed unchanged at its second highest level since November 2020. More than 630 people were evacuated from a village as a volcano alert was raised to the second-highest level.
“There are about 2,625 people from the three villages who have to be evacuated. We are still monitoring the rest,” Susanto said, adding that basic supplies for seven evacuation posts are available for the next three days.
In Sleman district of Yogyakarta province, 133 vulnerable groups including children, the elderly, pregnant women, and the disabled have been evacuated, said Joko Supriyanto, head of the district’s disaster management agency.
The agency has turned three buildings into evacuation centers. The district has set an emergency response period for the possible eruption of Mount Merapi from Nov. 5-30.
Merapi is the most active volcano in Indonesia. On November 5, the status of the 2,968-metre high volcano was declared as the second-highest alert level, which means that its eruption can occur at any time.
In 2010, its major eruption killed more than 300 people and displaced 20,000 residents.
(With inputs from IANS)
