Thousands more flee from volcano

Mount Merapi: Indonesia's Mount Merapi volcano erupted with clouds of hot gas and rained ash on surrounding areas yesterday, sending some nearby villagers who had been reluctant to leave scurrying for safety.

A vulcanologist said the eruption process was in its last stage although he was reluctant to forecast whether the situation would get worse.

Grey ash covered crop fields and hundreds of rooftops in the area of Ketep, 10km from the base of the mountain, and many houses appeared deserted after residents evacuated.

Open shops

Not everyone was gone. Some people cleaned ash off their houses and others opened shops. Commercial mini-buses continued to run.

As ash rained down on villages around the mountain in the early morning hours, schoolchildren in uniform had hurried to class, covering their noses and mouths.

The mountain "has exploded already", the head of the Merapi section at the Centre of Vulcanological Research and Technology in Yogyakarta told Reuters.

He cautioned, however, that Merapi's eruption process could be gradual rather than a sudden burst, and that the massive eruption scientists fear had yet to come.

The top of Merapi was totally obscured by thick grey and white clouds, which trailed down the volcano's slopes.

Ratmono Purbo, the head of the vulcanology centre in Yogyakarta, said the hot clouds stretched for 4km, while during an eruption in 1994 they reached 6km before a deadly rain of material started falling.

"Generally the [lava] dome is still intact but surely it has eroded a little bit," he told reporters.

"For Merapi, this is the last stage", Purbo said.

During the 1994 eruption, most of the 70 deaths were caused by the outpouring of hot ash and other material following the collapse of a lava dome. The volcano killed 1,300 people in 1930.

Indonesia raised the alert status of Merapi on Saturday to the highest level, also known as code red or danger status and moved more than 5,000 people living near the volcano to shelters in safe areas.

Hundreds of trucks

Thousands more were leaving yesterday, carried in hundreds of trucks and cars.

But Indonesian chief social welfare minister Aburizal Bakrie told reporters that "many residents are still in the dangerous area... about 24,000 people. We urge them to come down."

Despite the rain of ash and clouds of smoke, many people were returning to their villages to guard their homes and belongings.

"We have some motorbikes ready. If something happens, we can go on a bike," said Mardwiyuno, a 50-year-old man waiting for a vehicle outside a shelter with five others.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono is scheduled to fly to Solo town today to inspect the volcano situation. Solo lies around 50km from the volcano.

Merapi, about 450km east of Jakarta, is one of the most active volcanoes in Indonesia, which sits in the Pacific "Ring of Fire".

'Like dusk'

Describing yesterday's activity, villager Mariadi said: "This morning it was like dusk. The village was quite dark.

"The ashes were pouring in for one hour.

"A lot of us just stayed inside the house" to avoid breathing difficulties and teary eyes outside, he said.

Shopkeeper Surti, 45, said when she woke up "there was a pile of smoke and then ash started pouring in". She opened her shop anyway, saying she did not think her village was in serious danger.

Although a Reuters witness saw lava flowing from the side of the mountain, that was before the fresh clouds of hot gas and ash spewed from the volcano.

Vulcanologists say as the clouds emerge from the crater their temperature can approach 1,000 degrees Celsius, although the temperature drops rapidly once they hit the open air.

Like the reluctant villagers of Ketep, many on and near its slopes have refused to desert their homes and their livelihoods. Others who have left return during the day to tend livestock, collect grass, or otherwise carry on their daily routine.