Activity at Mount Merapi volcano triples
YOGYAKARTA (AP): Activity at Mount Merapi volcano has tripled since Saturday’s earthquake, and a large eruption is still possible, a volcanology official said Monday. “The earthquake has caused instability in the lava dome,” said Subandriyo, chief of the Merapi volcanology and monitoring office. “There is still a chance that a big eruption might occur,” he said.
The rumbling volcano spit out lava and hot clouds Monday morning, sending debris avalanching four kilometers down the mountain, he said.
Since Saturday’s powerful nearby earthquake, the volcano has spewed hot clouds an average of 150 times a day, compared to 50 times before, he said.
The 3,000-meter volcano has been rumbling and spewing smoke and lava for weeks. Earlier this month, residents in the danger zone were ordered to evacuate.
Many fear the quake will trigger an eruption of one of the world’s most active volcanoes. Mount Merapi, which means “Fire Mountain,” has erupted scores of times in the last 200 years, often with deadly results.
Clive Oppenheimer, of the University of Cambridge’sVolcanology Group, earlier said external factors could trigger or accelerate an eruption.
“It’s certainly possible a good shake from the earthquake could destabilize” the lava dome, Oppenheimer said.
A lava dome is a mound-shaped accumulation of slow-moving lava on a volcano. Its collapse can release a highly dangerous pyroclastic flow — a fast-moving burst of high-temperature gases and rock fragments that can burn anything in its path.