Merapi's Hot Clouds Reached Heights of Four Kilometers
Monday, 15 May, 2006 | 16:56 WIB

TEMPO Interactive, Yogyakarta: On the third day of its high alert status, the volvano Mount Merapi has entered the eruption phase.

More hot clouds are coming out of the peak of Merapi, some of which reaching heights of more than four kilometers.

On a few occasions, the hot clouds were accompanied by sounds of explosions.

This morning (15/5) at 5.50am, hot clouds discharged and these were accompanied by explosions that were more frequent than usual.

Compared to before, the volume of hot clouds coming out at 5.50am were the biggest yet, reaching around 20,000 cubic meters.

“But this is not the climax because the magma inside Mount Merapi amounts to more than 2.5 million cubic meters,” said Ratdomo Purbo, Head of the Agency for the Assessment and Application of Volcanic Technology (BPPTK) in Yogyakarta, at the Merapi Monitoring Post in Kaliurang, this morning.

According to Ratdomo, Merapi is still in the phase of hot clouds forming.

However if the intensity of the discharged hot clouds keeps increasing and the magma pressure from inside Merapi is strong, then the eruption phase could start soon.

A TEMPO team, which has been watching Merapi's activity, has seen that hot clouds sometimes spray and form a mushroom at the top of Merapi, but they mostly go to the sides, especially towards the Boyong, Krasak and Woro rivers.

Currently, ash rain is falling over Kaliurang tourism spots, coming from hot clouds that are being carried by the winds.

Syaiful Amin and Idayani