Mount Merapi about to blow its top

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4767805.stm

Indonesian authorities have ordered the compulsory evacuation of thousands
of residents living on the slopes of the volcano Mount Merapi.
The alert level has been raised to the highest level, warning of an
imminent eruption of the volcano which has been rumbling ominously for
weeks.

The 3,000m (9,700ft) peak, in densely populated Central Java province, is
in a state of "constant lava flow".

A gas cloud from the volcano's last eruption in 1994 killed 60 people.

Subandrio, head of the Merapi section at the Centre for Volcanological
Research and Technology Development, said: "This morning we raised the
status of Merapi to the top alert which is the red code.

"Every resident has been ordered to evacuate."

No choice

The BBC's Rachel Harvey, in the Indonesian capital Jakarta, says the
authorities have decided on a mass evacuation after weeks of preparations
and warnings.

More than 1,000 people who live closest to the crater - including the
elderly and mothers with young children - have already been evacuated.

But some residents have remained reluctant to leave as they fear losing
property and livestock.

With the threat status at its highest level, they now have no choice, our
correspondent says.

Local television has been showing dramatic night-time pictures of a stream
of lava slipping down one side of the mountain.

But scientists warn that the greatest danger could come from hot gasses
expelled from the volcano's crater.

Vulcanologist Bambang Dwiyanto said the alert had been raised because
"there has been constant lava flows that cause hot gases".

The lava began to flow on Thursday.

Indonesian Vice President Jusuf Kalla toured the area on Thursday and
ordered 50% of the population in the danger zone be moved.

Indonesia, part of the Asia-Pacific "Ring of Fire", has at least 129 active
volcanoes.

Mount Merapi, which some locals consider sacred, overlooks the ancient city
of Jogjakarta.

One of its deadliest eruptions was in 1930, when about 1,300 people were
killed.


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