Indonesian volcano unleashes new powerful eruption

By SLAMET RIYADI, Associated Press

MOUNT MERAPI, Indonesia – Indonesia's most volatile volcano — one of 22 being closely watched following an increase in activity — unleashed its most powerful eruption in a deadly week Monday, spewing searing clouds of gas and debris thousands of feet (meters) into the air. There were no immediate reports of new casualties.

Hundreds of miles (kilometers) to the west, a break in weather was helping rescuers get aid to victims of an 18-foot (six meter) -high tsunami that slammed into several remote islands, sweeping entire villages to sea.

The twin disasters, occurring simultaneously on opposite ends of the seismically charged country, have killed nearly 500 people in the last week, while severely testing the government's emergency response network.

In both cases, the military has been called in to help.

Almost all villagers living along Mount Merapi's rumbling slopes have been evacuated, some forcibly by camouflaged troops, though many have insisted on returning to their homes during the day to check on livestock and crops.

The latest eruption was accompanied by several deafening explosions.

As massive clouds spilled from the glowing cauldron and billowed into the air — with no sign of slowing nearly two hours after the blast — debris and ash cascaded nearly two miles (six kilometers) down the northeastern slopes, said Subrandrio, who is monitoring activity at the mountain that has already killed 38 people.

More than 800 miles (1,300 kilometers) to the west, boats and helicopters were ferrying aid to the most distant corners of the Mentawai Islands, where last week's tsunami destroyed hundreds of homes, schools, churches and mosques.

A military helicopter evacuated badly injured survivors who had languished in an overwhelmed hospital with only paracetamol to ease their pain, said Ade Edward, a disaster management official. Among those evacuated was a baby girl born in a shelter after the tsunami and a 12-year-old girl with a life-threatening chest wound.

A C-130 transport plane, six helicopters and four motorized longboats were ferrying food and emergency supplies.

Relief efforts were brought to a halt Saturday by stormy weather and rough seas but picked up on Sunday and Monday.

"We're really glad to finally see the relief workers, doctors and rescue teams able to reach devastated areas," Edward said, adding that two navy ships arrived with many more police and soldiers deployed to speed up relief efforts.

The tsunami death toll had reached 450 by Monday, said Nelis Zuliastri from the National Disaster Management Agency.

Indonesia, a vast island nation of 235 million people, straddles a series of fault lines and volcanoes known as the Pacific "Ring of Fire" and is prone to earthquakes and volcanic eruptions.

The fault that ruptured one week ago, running the length of the west coast of Sumatra island, also caused the 9.1-magnitude quake that unleashed a monster tsunami around the Indian Ocean in 2004, killing 230,000 people in a dozen countries.

Twenty-two of the country's 190 volcanoes were rumbling and spewing out clouds of ash Monday — all after being raised to the second- and third- highest alert levels, mostly within the last week — although it was not clear whether that was in any way linked to the recent quake or Merapi's eruption.

"Given the region and all the seismic activity, this isn't especially unusual," said Syamsul Rizal, a government volcanologist. But with temperatures constantly fluctuating, lava domes building up and collapsing, "it's as always, something to watch."

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Associated Press writers Achmad Ibrahim in the Mentawai islands and Niniek Karmini, Irwan Firdaus and Ali Kotarumalos in Jakarta contributed to this report.