Huge volcanic blast spurs more Indonesians to flee

MOUNT MERAPI, Indonesia. November 4. KAZINFORM Indonesia's deadly volcano erupted Wednesday with its biggest blast yet, shooting searing ash miles into the air as soldiers forced hasty new evacuations of people from villages and emergency shelters, Kazinform refers to Arab News.

Women screamed and children cried as they were loaded into trucks while rocks and debris rained from the sky. Several abandoned homes were set ablaze and the carcasses of incinerated cattle littered the scorched slopes.

No new casualties were reported immediately after the booming explosion, which lasted more than an hour.

"This is an extraordinary eruption, triple from the first" on Oct. 26, said Surono, a state volcanologist.

More than 70,000 villagers have been evacuated from the 3,000-meter Mount Merapi's once-fertile slopes since it began erupting just over a week ago, killing 38 people and injuring dozens, most with severe burns.

There have been more than a dozen strong blasts since then - including one Wednesday morning - prompting some scientists to say pressure inside the crater was easing.

The danger zone was widened from 10 km from the glowing crater to 15 (9) because of the heightened threat. Soldiers and police blocked all roads leading up the mountain, shooing away television crews and reporters.

He and his family fled on a motorbike, "racing with the explosive sounds as the searing ash chased us from behind." The last eruption has raised Merapi's status to "crisis" condition, said Andi Arief, a special staff at the presidential office dealing with disaster and social assistance.

Merapi, one of the world's most active volcanoes, has erupted many times in the last century, killing more than 1,400 people.

The volcano's initial blast on Oct. 26 occurred less than 24 hours after a towering tsunami slammed into remote islands on the western end of the country, sweeping entire villages to sea and killing at least 428 people.

In both cases, relief operations are expected to take weeks, possibly months.

More than 1,300 km west of the volcano, helicopters and boats were delivering aid to tsunami survivors in the most distant Mentawai islands, which lies almost directly over the fault that spawned the 2004 Indian Ocean monster quake and wave.

There has been talk in recent days about relocating villagers away from vulnerable coastlines, Kazinform cites Raba News. See www.arabnews.com for full version.