Mud streams flooding riverside near Mount Merapi
by Milota Sidorova
Mount Merapi, the most vulnerable Indonesian volcano has awaken once again. After storming October when seismologists measured a series of increasing intensity of shakes and volcano gas concentration it errupted in November and caused significant damages on crops of nearby area. More than 70,000 people were evacuated from their homes and fields that were once fertile remained with a thick, grey layer of dust. According to scientists the dynamics of this volcano was similar to a marathon runner – slow, but long term activities. They can be various from erruption of all kinds – lava, gas, dust and smoke erruption to earthquakes and eventuelly resulting tsunami. Ts! unami are generally created by earthquakes or volcano activities. And it's been more than a month since the first lava erruption and Mount Merapi is alive again. This time, heavy rains mixed with ash and stones covering the foothill and created fast-moving mudflows. The mass streamed down the slopes at speeds of up to 60 mph (100 kph) and inundated homes at the banks of the Code River. Mud created about a knee-high black sludge and again several hundreds of residents had to escape from their homes. The affected area spread up to 20 miles (30 kilometers) in perimeter. Merapi stopped the air traffic at the beginning of November and two airlines - Malaysian budget airline AirAsia and Singapore's SilkAir suspended several international flights to Yogykarta and Solo. Volcano eventuelly delayed U.S. president Barack Obama on his autumn way to Indonesia. So far, seismologists haven't projected how long the mountain can errupt.
related story (sgx18685): http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/as_indonesia_volcano;_ylt=AqufiD8...
by Milota Sidorova for Cantell TV (http://cantell.tv) |
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