Indonesia’s Mount Merapi Erupts, Spews Hot Lava

Indonesia’s Mount Merapi a highly active volcano, erupted late Friday and continued to release hot ash and other volcanic materials on Saturday.

On Friday night, the Merapi Volcano Observatory captured footage of lava flowing out of the volcano’s crater and a tall column of hot cloud rising up to 1,300 meters in the air. The eruption persisted into Saturday, with hot lava being visible.

“Residents should anticipate the disruption due to the volcanic ash from Mount Merapi eruption and please be on alert for the danger of volcanic mudflow, especially when it rains around Merapi,” the country’s volcanology agency said in a statement Saturday.

The previous week, Merapi had erupted, spewing volcanic material as high as 3,000 meters above the summit. The ash rain from that eruption had covered at least eight nearby villages.

Volcanologists have stated that the current activity is the most active phase for Merapi since 2021. The volcano has been at the second-highest alert level since 2020 due to increased volcanic activity, and a restricted zone of seven kilometres has been established from the summit.

In 2010, Merapi’s major eruption killed over 300 people and forced the evacuation of around 280,000 residents, making it the volcano’s most powerful eruption since 1930 when approximately 1,300 people were killed. Another eruption in 1994 resulted in approximately 60 deaths.

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