INDONESIAN VOLCANO ERUPTS AGAIN
Mount Merapi, among 20 mountains now rumbling and spitting out ash in Indonesia, is one of the world's most active.
Mount Merapi: Indonesia's deadly volcano unleashed another powerful eruption on Monday, spewing searing clouds of gas and ash thousands of feet into the air to the sound of a booming explosion.On the other side of seismically charged country, a break in weather was helping rescuers get aid to victims of a tsunami that slammed into several remote islands, sweeping entire villages to sea.
The death toll from the initial eruption and a tsunami that hit remote western islands reached 377.
The death toll from the initial eruption and a tsunami that hit remote western islands reached 377.
The twin disasters, which occurred almost simultaneously one week ago, have together killed nearly 500 people.- Mount Merapi, among 20 mountains now rumbling and spitting out ash in Indonesia, is one of the world's most active.
- The latest blast sent massive clouds of ash spilling nearly two miles (six kilometers) down the northeastern slopes, said Subrandrio, who is monitoring the mountain that has already killed 38 people.
- With the increase in activity in recent days, villagers had already been evacuated.
- Surono, chief of the Center for Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation, warned that heavy rain over the weekend increased the danger of another larger eruption because water falling into the fiery crater can create sudden vapor pressure in the lava dome.
- More than 1,300 kilometres to the west, boats and helicopters were ferrying aid to the most distant corners of the Mentawai Islands, where some coastal communities were pounded by waves up to six metres high last Monday. The tsunami destroyed hundreds of homes, schools, churches and mosques.
A military helicopter evacuated badly injured survivors who had languished in an overwhelmed hospital with only paracetamol to ease their pain, said Ade Edward, a disaster management official.Among those evacuated was a baby girl born in a shelter after the tsunami and a 12-year-old girl with a life-threatening chest wound.
- A C-130 transport plane, six helicopters and four motorised longboats were ferrying food and emergency supplies.
- Relief efforts were brought to a complete stop Saturday by stormy weather and rough seas.
- "We're really glad to finally see the relief workers, doctors and rescue teams able to reach devastated areas," Edward said, adding that two navy ships arrived on Sunday with many more police and soldiers deployed to speed up relief efforts.
The tsunami death toll climbed to 450 on Monday with the discovery of dozens more bodies, said Nelis Zuliastri from the National Disaster Management Agency.Source: Reuters
MASS BURIAL FOR INDONESIAN'S VOLCANO VICTIMS
SIDOREJO, Indonesia - Disaster-prone Indonesia paused Thursday to bury victims of Mount Merapi's violent eruption, including an elderly spiritual leader appointed to hush the volcano's restless spirits.More than 20 of the 32 victims were buried in a mass grave in central Java as the country reels from the twin disasters of Tuesday's eruption and a tsunami which struck Sumatra island on Monday, killing more than 300 people.
Most of the victims died of burns or suffocation as searing ash and clouds of heated gas spewed out of the crater around 6 pm (1100 GMT) on Tuesday. Many were found huddled together in their homes.
Many more almost certainly would have been killed had the government not issued a maximum red alert warning of an imminent eruption on Monday and ordered people to evacuate a 10-kilometre (six-mile) zone around the mountain.
Source: AP
Government volcanologists said Merapi, the most active volcano in an archipelago studded with smouldering peaks, had been relatively quiet since the deadly eruptions which smothered the surrounding countryside in fine ash.- Inside the danger zone on Thursday, the landscape was a picture of devastation.
- Houses were flattened and burnt, pine trees stood like chopsticks with leaves and branches seared away, and thick gray ash covered everything.
- The stench of rotting bodies, of people and livestock, was strong in places, while clouds of white and black smoke rose menacingly from the mouth of the volcano above.
- More than 50,000 people crammed into uncomfortable temporary shelters near the Central Java provincial capital of Yogyakarta were told it was too soon to return home.
- In addition to the mass burial, other victims were being laid to rest in private ceremonies, including a revered elder known as Grandfather Marijan, the royal guardian of the mountain.
- Appointed by the sultan of Yogyakarta to watch over the sacred "Mountain of Fire" and appease its spirits, the frail 83-year-old ignored orders to leave and died as he prayed at his home on the volcano's slopes.
- Scores of people saw his body, wrapped in a blood-stained white sheet, lowered into a grave to the sound of chanted prayers.
Most of the victims died of burns or suffocation as searing ash and clouds of heated gas spewed out of the crater around 6 pm (1100 GMT) on Tuesday. Many were found huddled together in their homes.Many more almost certainly would have been killed had the government not issued a maximum red alert warning of an imminent eruption on Monday and ordered people to evacuate a 10-kilometre (six-mile) zone around the mountain.
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