JAKARTA: Indonesia’s Merapi volcano erupted on Saturday, spewing hot cloud up to seven kilometres into the air, the country’s disaster management agency said.
The volcano located in the Yogyakarta special region on the island of Java erupted around noon local time and a lava flow of 1.5 kilometres was observed, the local authority said.
Residents in the nearby community have been warned to stop any activities in the danger zones, range between three to seven kilometres radius from the crater, the statement said.
The 2,963 metre-high Merapi is one of Indonesia’s most active volcanoes and was already on the country’s second-highest alert level.
An official at local monitoring post said no residents have been evacuated.
“This has only been observed as a one-time event, there have been five or six avalanches. If the coverage continues to increase and the distance is further than 7 kilometres, it is likely that the residents will be recommended to evacuate,” said the official, identified as Yulianto.
Located on the Pacific Ring of Fire, Indonesia has more volcanoes than any other country. Merapi last erupted violently in 2010, killing more than 350 people and forcing the the evacuation of around 280,000 residents.
That was its most powerful eruption since an event in 1930 that killed around 1,300 people. An eruption in 1994 left about 60 people dead.
