MERAPI VULCANO ERUPTION, UPDATE (PRAY FOR INDONESIA) ( Archived) (58)

Extraordinary Volcanic Eruption' in Indonesia

KOMPAS.com - Searing gas and molten lava poured from Indonesia's deadly volcano in an explosion three times as powerful as last week's devastating blast, chasing people from villages and emergency shelters along its slopes.

After more than a week of continual eruptions, and warnings that pressure inside Mount Merapi may still be building, the province warned on Wednesday it was running out of money to help more than 70,000 people forced from their homes.

Soldiers loaded women and crying children into trucks while rocks and debris rained from the sky. Several abandoned homes were set ablaze and the carcasses of incinerated cattle littered the mountain's scorched slopes.

No new casualties were reported after Wednesday's fiery explosion - which was followed just before dawn on Thursday by another booming tremor and ash cloud.

"This is an extraordinary eruption," said Surono, a state volcanologist who had earlier said energy building up behind a magma dome in the crater appeared to be easing.

He said the blast, which dusted cars, trees and roads in towns up to 130 kilometres away in grey ash, had triple the force of the first eruption on October 26.

"We have no idea what's happening," he said, as he watched the bobbing needle of a seismograph machine. "It looks like we may be entering an even worse stage now."

Mount Merapi, which means Fire Mountain, has erupted many times in the past century, often with deadly results. Thirty-eight people have died since it burst back to life just over a week ago. In 1994, 60 people were killed, while in 1930, more than a dozen villages were torched, leaving up to 1300 dead.

Still, as with other volcanoes in this seismically charged country, tens of thousands call its fertile slopes home. Most now are packed in crowded government camps well away from the base.

Djarot Nugroho, the head of Central Java's disaster management agency, said money to buy instant noodles, clean water, medicine and other supplies would run out within five days unless the Indonesian government declares a national disaster, bringing in much-needed federal funds.

There have been more than a dozen strong eruptions at Merapi in the past week - including another one earlier Wednesday - and thousands of volcanic tremors and ash bursts. The danger zone was widened from 10 to 15 kilometres from the peak because of the heightened threat.

"I think of anything else except to save my wife and son. We left my house and everything," said Tentrem Wahono, 50, who fled with his family on a motorbike from their village of Kaliurang, located about 10km from the crater.

"We were racing with the explosive sounds as the searing ash chased us from behind," he said.

Soldiers and police blocked all roads leading up the 3000-metre mountain, chasing away curious onlookers and television crews and reporters. Wednesday's eruption, which occurred during a downpour, raised Merapi to "crisis" status, said Andi Arief, a staffer in the presidential office dealing with the disaster.

A spokesman for the Volcanic Ash Advisory Service, which is based in Darwin, said volcanic activity in Indonesia is unlikely to affect Australian air transport. He said the advisory is currently warning airlines who travel around Indonesia, especially java

''It is very, very unlikely [volcanic ash would reach Australia] but you can never rule these things out,'' he said.

"There is always a chance, but the winds never really work that way and it really is extremely unlikely."

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