A motorist rides past by as Mount Merapi looms in the background, in Sleman, Indonesia, Friday, Nov. 6, 2020. Indonesian authorities began evacuating people living on the volatile volcano's fertile slopes on Friday following an increase in volcanic activity. - AP
JAKARTA, Nov 7 (Bloomberg): Indonesian authorities evacuated hundreds of residents living near the country’s most active volcano after raising the alert level earlier this week.
More than 600 people in vulnerable groups such as the elderly, pregnant women and children, as well as those with disabilities, were evacuated on Saturday, the National Disaster Management Agency said in a statement.
The evacuation process was carried out according to health protocols with people required to wear masks and maintain a safe distance.
All evacuees had to undergo Covid-19 rapid tests and record their health conditions before entering shelters.
Indonesia’s geological disaster agency raised Mount Merapi’s alert status on Thursday (Nov 5) to the second-highest level because of increased volcanic activity.
Evacuees rest in their partitions, part of measures to prevent the transmission of the Covid-19 coronavirus, at a shelter in Deyangan village in Magelang, Central Java, on Saturday (Nov 7, 2020), following signs of volcanic activity in nearby Mount Merapi. after being evacuated from their residents due to the status of Mount Merapi, which gives a sign that it will erupt. - AFP
The agency warned of potential dangers such as lava avalanches and hot gas clouds that could travel as far as 5 kilometres (3.1 miles) if an explosive eruption occurred.
Meanwhile, AP reported that Edy Susanto, a local disaster mitigation agency official, said about 300 people from two villages, mostly the elderly, pregnant women and children, were taken to emergency shelters in Central Java’s Magelang district.
Susanto said emergency measures to evacuate people living within 6 kilometers (3.7 miles) of the crater’s mouth were being prepared as local administrations in Central Java and Yogyakarta provinces closely monitor the situation
Merapi spewed ash and hot gas in a column as high as 6 kilometers (3.7 miles) into the sky in June, but no casualties were reported.
Mount Merapi has been active and erupted regularly since 1548. Its last major eruption in 2010 killed more than 300 people and caused the evacuation of 20,000 villagers.
Indonesia, a vast archipelago with a population of 270 million, is prone to earthquakes and volcanic activities as the nation sits along the Pacific "Ring of Fire.”
