YOGYAKARTA, Indonesia – The volcano Mount Merapi in Indonesia erupted on Thursday morning with hot clouds when hundreds of residents were evacuated from its fertile slopes.
Authorities have evacuated more than 500 people living on the mountain in the Magelang district on Java Island. Thousands of people had to leave all their homes and agricultural land due to the dangers on Merapi, Indonesia’s most active volcano.
Light eruptions continued throughout the day – one that lifted a column of warm clouds 200 meters into the sky. The initial eruption was obscured by fog, but using seismic and other data, the Geological Disaster Technology Research and Development Center estimated that the hot clouds had spread less than 1 km from the crater.
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“So far, the potential danger is no more than 5 kilometers,” the head of Yogyakarta’s Center for Volcanology and Geological Hazards, Hanik Humaida, said in a statement.
The geological authority raised the warning level of Mount Merapi to the second highest level in November after sensors picked up increasing activity. Tourism and mining activities have been stopped.
Some evacuees returned to the slope after the activity subsided, but had to leave again on Thursday.
The 9,737-foot mountain is about 30 kilometers from Yogyakarta city center. About a quarter of a million people live within 6 miles of the volcano, according to authorities in surrounding districts.
Merapi spewed ash and hot gas in a column up to 6 km into the air in June, but no accidents were reported.
The last major eruption in 2010 killed 347 people and caused the evacuation of 20,000 villagers.
Indonesia, an archipelago of more than 250 million people, sits on the Pacific “Ring of Fire” and is prone to earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. Government seismologists monitor more than 120 active volcanoes.