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Mount Merapi erupts twice, officials advise residents to be on alert
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Mount Merapi erupts as seen from Kismoyoso in Ngemplak, Boyolali regency, Central Java, on Sunday. (Antara/Yusuf Nugroho)
M
ount Merapi in Central Java erupted twice on Sunday morning, the Yogyakarta Geological Disaster Technology Research and Development Center (BPPTKG) has reported.
BPPTKG Yogyakarta said the first eruption reached 6,000 meters in height and lasted 328 seconds with a 75 millimeter amplitude, while the second eruption lasted 100 seconds.
“The current danger is hot clouds rolling down from the peak and other volcanic material from an explosive eruption,” the center said through a written statement released on Sunday, adding that the public should stay outside a 3 kilometer radius of the peak to avoid any possible danger.
The center also advised residents living near Merapi to be on alert for volcanic ash and possible lava flow, especially if rain falls around Merapi’s peak.
National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) spokesperson Raditya Jati said that, as of Sunday morning, villages in eight districts surrounding Merapi had experienced ash rain, with the torrent of ash in Srumbung district being the most severe.
Mount Merapi is one of the most active volcanoes in Indonesia. An eruption in 2010 left more than 300 people dead and forced almost 400,000 people to take refuge. Authorities have raised Merapi’s alert level to waspada (caution), the second-highest level in the country’s four-tiered alert system. (trn)
