Mount Merapi, Indonesia’s most active volcano, erupted on Monday, spewing ash into the air and gushing crimson lava down its crater.
Early morning eruptions blew clouds up to 3.5 kilometres (2 miles) away from the rumbling volcano, blanketing nearby villages in grey ash.
No casualties reported
There were no evacuation orders issued, and there were no recorded casualties. At the same time, authorities raised its danger level late last year in Merapi, which is close to Indonesia’s cultural capital Yogyakarta on Java island and has been particularly active in recent months.
Residents were told to stay away from the area within a five-kilometer radius of the rumbling volcano, according to Indonesia’s geological agency.
“Residents should avoid volcanic ash and they’ve been warned about potential lava flows in the area surrounding Merapi,” it states.
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What impact did it cause in the previous eruptions?
The last significant eruption of Mount Merapi in 2010 killed over 300 people and forced the evacuation of roughly 280,000 people from the surrounding areas.
Since 1930, it was its most powerful eruption, when around 1,300 people were killed, yet another explosion occurred in 1994, killing about 60 lives.
However, there are nearly 130 active volcanoes in the Southeast Asian archipelago nation.
Tectonic plates collide!
Due to its location on the Pacific “Ring of Fire,” where tectonic plates intersect, Indonesia experiences frequent seismic and volcanic activity.
