Mount Merapi, Gunung Merapi (literally Fire Mountain in Indonesian/Javanese), is
Indonesia. It is the most active volcano in Indonesia and has erupted regularly since
1548. It is located approximately 28 kilometres (17 mi) north of Yogyakarta city,
and thousands of people live on the flanks of the volcano, with villages as high as
1,700 metres (5,600 ft) above sea level.
The name Merapi could be loosely translated as 'Mountain of Fire'. The etymology
"mountain" refer to mythical mountain of Gods in Hinduism, and api means "fire".
Smoke can be seen emerging from the mountaintop at least 300 days a year, and
several eruptions have caused fatalities. Hot gas from a large explosion killed 27
people on November 22 in 1994, mostly in the town of Muntilan, west of the volcano.
Another large eruption occurred in 2006, shortly before the Yogyakarta earthquake.
In light of the hazards that Merapi poses to populated areas, it has been designated
as one of the Decade Volcanoes.
On 25 October 2010 the Indonesian government raised the alert for Mount Merapi to
its highest level and warned villagers in threatened areas to move to safer ground.
People living within a 20 km (12.5 mile) zone were told to evacuate. Officials said
about 500 volcanic earthquakes had been recorded on the mountain over the
weekend of 23–24 October, and that the magma had risen to about 1 kilometre
(3,300 ft) below the surface due to the seismic activity.[4] On the afternoon of 25
October 2010 Mount Merapi erupted lava from its southern and southeastern
slopes.
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