Merapi, The Sleeping Volcano
The increasing activity of Merapi volcano has been recorded on Tuesday. Tempointeraktif.com reported few hours ago that authorities have raised the status of Merapi volcano from normal to attention as the magma level increased sharply from 1,000 meters to 500 meters below the peak.
Merapi is located 30 km north of Yogyakarta. Of the 67 eruptions recorded, eleven resulted in fatalities. It is tall (2.8 km high) and has steep slopes. Hot ash-clouds, volcanic bombs, ash fall and lava flows are named primary dangers. Other danger during and following an eruption are called secondary danger, which includes lahars. The most dangerous effect of the Merapi eruption is what the scientist called a pyroclastic flow. Whereas lahar are particularly feared as it can traveling long distance.
The risk of Merapi volcano becomes higher because people living up to an elevation of 1200m. Even, some villages are located at an elevation of 1700 m. For illustration, at an elevation more than 500m, there are about 32 villages with a population of 258.200, with a density of 690 per km2 and a population growth of about 3 %. This means that the risk will be high.
Merapi is located 30 km north of Yogyakarta. Of the 67 eruptions recorded, eleven resulted in fatalities. It is tall (2.8 km high) and has steep slopes. Hot ash-clouds, volcanic bombs, ash fall and lava flows are named primary dangers. Other danger during and following an eruption are called secondary danger, which includes lahars. The most dangerous effect of the Merapi eruption is what the scientist called a pyroclastic flow. Whereas lahar are particularly feared as it can traveling long distance.
The risk of Merapi volcano becomes higher because people living up to an elevation of 1200m. Even, some villages are located at an elevation of 1700 m. For illustration, at an elevation more than 500m, there are about 32 villages with a population of 258.200, with a density of 690 per km2 and a population growth of about 3 %. This means that the risk will be high.
Like all volcanoes, Merapi has eruptions of different sizes. Small eruptions happen every 2-3 years, bigger ones every 10-15 years, and very large ones every 50-60 years. The biggest eruptions occurred in the years 1006, 1786, 1822, 1872 and 1930. The 1006 eruption spread ash all over the central part of the island of Java.
While Indonesia contains more active volcanoes than any country on Earth, scientist recorded Merapi as the most active volcanoes (out of 130) in the country and has had at least 12 eruptions that killed people. The name Merapi means Mountain of Fire. The volcano is considered sacred and every year a priest climbs to the top to make an offering.
The latest eruption was on February 10, 2001 when Merapi's status was changed to the maximum of Alert Level 4. The eruption produced a continuous major pyroclastic flow seven km to the River Sat and 4.5 km to the River Lamat. The flow lasted about 2.5 hours, and the ash plume spread 60 km to the east. No fatalities reported, but thousands of people were evacuated.
Stronger eruption was recorded in January 1997. Thousands of people were evacuated. The 1994 eruption killed 69 people.
The latest eruption was on February 10, 2001 when Merapi's status was changed to the maximum of Alert Level 4. The eruption produced a continuous major pyroclastic flow seven km to the River Sat and 4.5 km to the River Lamat. The flow lasted about 2.5 hours, and the ash plume spread 60 km to the east. No fatalities reported, but thousands of people were evacuated.
Stronger eruption was recorded in January 1997. Thousands of people were evacuated. The 1994 eruption killed 69 people.
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posted by yosef at 12:09 AM
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