Jogja City

Some 1,000 residents at the foot of the now active Mount Merapi in Yogyakarta on the island of Java have been evacuated in anticipation of the volcano’s possible eruption in a few days time.

As of Saturday afternoon, increased activities have been recorded at the 2,911 meter high cone-shaped volcano, including stronger and more frequent tremors and, according to some local media reports, villagers have also claimed to have seen lava drops.

Yogyakarta Provincial Governor Sri Sultan Hamengku Buwono X has since yesterday urged the villagers not to wait until the eruption but to voluntarily leave their homes to evacuation centres in order to prevent the loss of lives.

Volunteers who were helping in the evacuation process said those evacuated so far were from eight villages situated in sub-administrative localities of Dukun and Srumbung, about 4 to 5 kilometers from the top of the volcano.

However, some of the villagers refused to leave their homes and properties as yet until they were certain that signs of an eruption were clear enough including the exodus of animals living there or the spewing of lava.

A Magelang district official, Agus Subandono was quoted by Kompas news website as saying that the early evacuation process was carried out in line with reports by the Yogyakarta-based Volcano Research and Development Body that the magma pressure inside the volcano was now very high.

He said should there be an eruption, it would be only in a matter of minutes for the lava to flow down and hit the villages and thus there was a need for immediate evacuation now in anticipation of that.

Meanwhile, Antara news agency reported from Solo, on the other side of the volcano, that the peak of the volcano was covered in thick fog and smog so much so that it was not visible from the lookout post monitoring the volcano activity.

Monitoring of Mount Merapi’s activities was done solely by seismograph, an official said.

It was also reported that the US government would provide US$50,000 in funds to Indonesia through the International Federation of Red Crosses to support preparation efforts in the event of an eruption of Mount Merapi.

The Indonesian Red Crescent (PMI), meanwhile, said that it was preparing emergency assistance for about 20,000 local people around Mount Merapi in anticipation of the volcano’s possible eruption.

PMI Chairman Mar`ie Muhammad said some 400 PMI volunteers have been sent to the disaster prone area in Sleman, Magelang, Boyolali and Klaten sub-districts and they have set up temporary tents and field kitchens.

He said PMI has also prepared 10,000 packed food, trucks for emergency evacuation, some 20,000 face masks and 5,000 medicine kits apart from rice and instant noodles at its warehouses in Sleman and Magelang.

Indonesian Coordinating Minister for People`s Welfare Aburizal Bakrie said the government was taking anticipatory steps in the face of possible eruption of Mount Merapi which had been put under alert status since April 12.

“We have put in place emergency response steps and are holding continuous coordination with the local authorities of Magelang, Sleman and Boyolali sub-districts,” he said.

BERNAMA