Mt. Merapi eruption

Mt. Merapi in Yogyakarta may erupt in a more explosive way than its previous eruptions, head of the Volcanology and Geological Disaster Mitigation Center, Surono, warns.

Surono said the center was aware of the pattern of the volcano’s eruption, but history told that the magnitude of the explosion was sometimes unpredictable.

“Merapi tends to form a lava dome before it erupts, but our data shows there was an explosive eruption without prior formation of a dome,” Surono said as quoted by Antara news agency on Friday night.

Deviation of the eruption pattern took place in 1930 and 1931, which Surono said affected areas in a radius of over 15 kilometers from the peak. “It caused an ash rain that reached as far as Malang and Madura Island in East Java,” he added.

The center increased on Friday the volcano’s alert status to the second highest level following its increasing volcanic activities.

Surono said he could predict when Mt. Merapi would explode despite its fast increasing activities. “For sure, however, Merapi has never broken its promise. Eruption, whether explosive or not, will cap its volcanic activities,” he said.
Source:the jakarta post