Mount Merapi Launches Hot Clouds Falls As Far As 1,500 Meters

YOGYAKARTA - Mount Merapi on the border of Central Java Province and Yogyakarta Special Region, launched hot clouds of avalanches with a sliding distance of 1,500 (1.5 km) to the southwest.

Head of the Center for Research and Development of Geological Disaster Technology (BPPTKG), Hanik Humaida through an official statement in Yogyakarta, said that the hot clouds from Merapi avalanches slid at 15.00 WIB.

"The hot cloud avalanche was recorded on the seismogram with an amplitude of 35 mm and a duration of 94 seconds," he said, quoted by Antara, Friday, April 1.

Meanwhile, based on the BPPTKG observation period from 12.00 to 18.00 WIB, Merapi was also recorded to have experienced one hot cloud earthquake with an amplitude of 35 mm for a duration of 94 seconds, 19 earthquake avalanches with an amplitude of 3-20 mm for a duration of 17-199 seconds, and one distant tectonic earthquake with an amplitude of 10 mm for 191 seconds.

BPPTKG still maintains the status of Mount Merapi at Level III or Standby.

The current potential hazards are lava avalanches and hot clouds in the south-southwest sector covering the Boyong River for a maximum of 5 km, and the Bedog, Krasak, Bebeng rivers for a maximum of 7 km.

Meanwhile, the southeast sector covers the Woro River for a maximum of 3 km and the Gendol River for a maximum of 5 km.

If the volcano experiences an explosive eruption, the ejection of volcanic material can reach an area within a radius of three kilometers from the top of the mountain.