NOS News•
The volcano Merapi has erupted on the Indonesian island of Java. The volcano emits thick clouds of smoke; a lava flow with stones comes down the slope of the mountain. Due to the eruption, the sun is no longer visible and villages in the area are covered in ash.
There are no reports of casualties. The Indonesian authorities have halted mining in the region, as well as tourism activities.
Watch the ash cloud from the volcano here:
Volcano Merapi erupts in Java
The Merapi is an almost 3000 meter high mountain a few tens of kilometers from the city of Yogyakarta. Several hundred thousand people live in a radius of ten kilometers around the volcano.
There are about 120 active volcanoes in Indonesia, of which Mount Merapi is the most active. In 2010, an eruption killed 347 people. This eruption is the strongest since the alert level for volcanoes was raised to the second highest level in November 2020.
Volcanic eruptions and earthquakes occur regularly in Indonesia. The archipelago is located on the so-called Ring of Fire, a horseshoe-shaped area with a lot of seismic activity due to shifting tectonic plates.
