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Merapi volcano spews hot ash
The eruptions do not threaten residents.
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Thick smoke billows from Mount Merapi on the border between Yogyakarta and Central Java on Monday morning. Ash is reported to have fallen in several places in nearby Klaten regency.
(The Jakarta Post/Tarko sudiarno )
T
he Mount Merapi volcano in Yogyakarta has being spewing hot ash for the past few days, for the first time since the authorities set the alert level at waspada (caution), the second-highest level in the four-tiered alert system in the country, on May 22, 2018.
“The monitoring post first recorded hot ash emissions on Tuesday evening. The first emission reached 1,400 meters and it lasted for 141 seconds,” Hanik Humaida, the head of research and technological development for the Geological Disaster Agency (BPPTKG), said on Wednesday.
The second emission, Hanik went on to say, reached 1,350 meters over a period of 135 seconds, while the third reached 1,100 meters for 111 seconds.
“The hot ash fell on the upstream of the Gendol River,” she said.
Hanik reiterated that the authorities would maintain the volcano’s alert level and would not immediately upgrade it to a higher level.
Mt Merapi, some 2,900 meters in height, has built a 461,000 cubic meter lava dome since Jan. 21. The agency has also recorded low scale earthquakes and volcanic material avalanches.
However, Hanik gave an assurance that the latest development were not a threat to local residents living on Merapi’s slopes, while warning them to steer clear of a 3-kilometer radius of the peak of the mountain. (swd)
