Yogyakarta (ANTARA) – Mount Merapi on the border of Yogyakarta and Central Java erupted on Sunday, expelling incandescent lava 15 times. The lava flew to the southeasterly and southwesterly directions.

The incandescent lava slid 10 times to the southwesterly direction with a maximum sliding distance of 1,500 meters starting from 00.00 to 06.00 a.m. local time, Head of the Geological Disaster Technology Research and Development Center (BPPTKG) Hanik Humaida said in Yogyakarta.

Meanwhile, the lava also slid five times to the southeasterly direction with a maximum distance of 1,000 meters.

“The smoke rising from the crater was observed to be white with a thin intensity and was 100 meters above the crater’s peak,” Hanik Humaida said.

Besides incandescent lava, the Mount Merapi has also experienced 25 earthquake with an amplitude of 4-26 mm for 28-102 seconds, and two earthquake gusts with an amplitude of 4 mm for 11.9-13.8 seconds. Next, the mount also experienced 54 multiphase earthquakes with an amplitude of 3-22 mm for 5.6-7.7 seconds, 13 shallow volcanic earthquakes with an amplitude of 55-75 mm for 8.7-13.2 seconds, and one tectonic earthquake with an amplitude of 8 mm for 61 seconds.

During the observation period on Saturday night, at 06:00 p.m. – midnight, the Mount Merapi was recorded to emit eight times of incandescent lava as far as 1,200 meters to the southwesterly direction, and six times to the southeasterly direction as far as 1,000 meters.

Until now, the BPPTKG still maintains the status of Mount Merapi at Level III or alert.

Lava and hot clouds of the volcano are estimated to have an impact on the areas of south-southwest sector, including the Yellow River, Boyong, Bedog, Krasak, Bebeng, and Putih.

If an eruption occurred, the volcanic material from Mount Merapi could reach a radius of three kilometers from the mountain’s peak, Humaida said.

Source: Antara News