JAKARTA, June 25 — Mount Merapi, Indonesia’s most active volcano emitted ash clouds three times as far as three kilometres to the southeast, with ashes spreading to areas in Yogyakarta, head of the Geological Disaster Technology Research and Development Centre (BPPTKG) Hanik Humaida said Friday.
The hot clouds erupted three times at 4.43 am local time with an amplitude of 75 mm. The first clouds ran for 61 seconds, the second for 131 seconds and the third, 245 seconds, reported Xinhua.
“A column of smoke was observed as high as 1,000 m high above its peak,” Humaida said.
At 7.33 am local time, Merapi, which straddles Special Region of Yogyakarta and Central Java province, belched more hot clouds as far as 1 km to the southeast for 104 seconds, with a column of smokes as high as 600 m above its summit.
Based on observations from midnight to 6am, the 2,968-metre high volcano, which is in the status of third-level danger, spewed lava five times to the southwest and six times to the southeast.
The BPPTKG urged people to keep calm, wear masks to avoid dangerous volcanic ash, and close water storages.
Meanwhile, lava flows and ash clouds were estimated to have affected south-southwest areas, such as the Kuning, Boyong, Bedog, Krasak, Bebeng, and Putih rivers.
Merapi has also ejected volcanic materials to areas within a radius of 3km from its peak.
— Bernama
