Indonesia’s most active volcano erupted Wednesday with a river of lava and searing gas clouds flowing 1,500 meters (4,900 feet) down its slopes.
It was the Mount Merapi’s longest lava flow since authorities raised the volatile volcano's danger level in November, said Hanik Humaida, the head of Yogyakarta’s Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation Center.
The alert level was being maintained for now at the second-highest level, she said, and people should stay out of the existing 5-kilometer (3-mile) danger zone around the crater as the local administrations in Central Java and Yogyakarta provinces closely monitor the situation.
In this photo taken with slow shutter speed, hot lava flows down from the crater of Mount Merapi as its activity continues since local geological authority raised the alert level of the volcano to the second-highest level in November, in Sleman, Indonesia, early Saturday, Jan. 9, 2021. Merapi is one of the most volatile among the country's more than 120 volcanoes. (AP PhotoTaufiq Rozzaq)
The 2,968-meter (9,737-foot) volcano is on the densely populated island of Java and near the ancient city of Yogyakarta. It is the most active of dozens of Indonesian volcanoes and has repeatedly erupted with lava and gas clouds recently.
Merapi's last major eruption in 2010 killed 347 people.
Indonesia, an archipelago of 270 million people, is prone to earthquakes and volcanic activity because it sits along the Pacific “Ring of Fire,” a horseshoe-shaped series of seismic fault lines around the ocean.
Mount Merapi spews volcanic steam from its crater seen from Sleman, Yogyakarta, Indonesia, Thursday, Jan. 7, 2021. The 2,968-meter (9,737-foot) mountain spewed avalanches of hot clouds on Thursday morning amid its increasing volcanic activities. (AP PhotoTaufiq Rozzaq)