Indonesia's Mt. Merapi Volcano erupts 16 times in 24 hours
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Jakarta: One of the most active volcanoes in Indonesia, Mount Merapi, erupted 16 times on Wednesday, releasing incandescent lava up to 1800 m, according to the Centre for Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation (PVMBG).
People are asked to avoid a 7 km radius in the south-southwest sector and a 5 km radius in the southeast sector of the summit, said Mount Merapi Monitoring Post officer Ahmad Sopari.
"The lava was released towards Bebeng River up to 1800 m. White smoke of medium intensity reached as high as 50 m above the top of the crater," Sopari said, adding that the lava flows and hot clouds are potentially hazardous at this time.
Located on the border of the provinces of Central Java and Yogyakarta, Mount Merapi is now at the third dangerous level.
Earlier, in 2010, a major eruption of Merapi killed 353 people and displaced over 20,000 residents.
Since then, Merapi had experienced several smaller eruptions, most noticeably two phreatic eruptions which occurred in November 2013 and May 2018.
With inputs from IANS