Mount Merapi Launches 2 Times Hot Cloud Falls For 2.5 KM To Bebeng River

Mount Merapi launches hot clouds of avalanches with a sliding distance of 2,500 meters towards the Bebeng River (ANTARA/HO)

YOGYAKARTA - Mount Merapi on the border of Central Java Province and Yogyakarta Special Region (DIY) launched hot clouds of avalanches with a sliding distance of 2,500 meters (2.5 km) towards Kali Bebeng or southwest on Friday evening.

The head of the Center for Research and Development of Geological Disaster Technology (BPPTKG), Hanik Humaida, said the hot clouds from the Merapi avalanche slid at 17:05 WIB.

"Heat cloud avalanches were recorded on a seismogram with an amplitude of 30 mm and a duration of 232 seconds", she said in Yogyakarta through his official statement, Antara on Friday, January 21.

She said that until now there have been no reports of ash rain due to hot clouds falling on Mount Merapi. "There are no reports of ash rain", she said.

Meanwhile, based on the results of morphological analysis in the period 14 to 20 January 2022, she said, no significant morphological changes were observed, both in the southwest lava dome and the middle dome of Merapi.

The volume of the lava dome in the southwest is recorded at 1,670,000 cubic meters and the central dome at 3,007,000 cubic meters. BPPTKG still maintains the status of Mount Merapi at Level III or Standby.

The lava fall and hot clouds of Mount Merapi are estimated to have an impact on the southeast-southwest sector for a maximum of three kilometers to the Woro River and five kilometers to the Gendol, Kuning, Boyong, Bedog, Krasak, Bebeng, and Putih rivers.

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