Pressure Rises In And Around Volcano

A growing dome of lava on Mount Merapi's crater is poised to collapse and could send clouds of red-hot gases into villages below, a scientist warned Sunday as activity at Indonesia's deadliest volcano intensified.

But even as black clouds billowed high into the sky and lava flows scorched fresh scars down the mountain's western flank, many villagers ignored evacuation orders and returned to their homes to tend animals and crops that flourish on its fertile slopes.

Vulcanologists hiked Merapi's alert status to the highest level on Saturday after weeks of activity at the 9,800-foot peak, which rises from the plains of Indonesia's densely populated Java Island.

Thousands of women, children and the elderly were immediately shuttled by bus and trucks to emergency shelters. Small groups of men were allowed to stay behind overnight to ensure thieves did not move in.

"I cannot force them," said Widi Sutikno, the official coordinating the emergency response. "All I can do is tell them to keep looking up at the mountain and have a motorbike ready."

Merapi — one of around 129 active volcanoes in Indonesia — last erupted in 1994, sending out a searing cloud of gas that burned 60 people to death. About 1,300 people were killed when it erupted in 1930.

The clouds, which contain a mix of hot ash, rock fragments and volcanic gas, are the main worry this time around, said Sugiono, one of a team of scientists monitoring the volcano 24 hours a day.

A dome of lava formed by magma forced to the surface is poised to collapse and could propel the clouds down the mountain at several hundred miles an hour, said Sugiono.

"Hot clouds keep appearing all the time," said Sugiono, who goes by a single name. "If you get stuck in them, then you have no chance."

In one village in the shadow of Merapi, holy men burned incense and floated offerings of rice, fruit and vegetables on a river running down from the mountain in a special ceremony they believe will ward off an eruption.

Although most Indonesians are Muslim, many also follow animist beliefs and worship ancient spirits, especially in central Java province. Often at full moons, they trek to crater rims and throw in rice, jewelry and live animals to appease the volcano.

"All the things we are doing here are to try to make us safe," said Assize Asyhori, an Islamic preacher who also took part in the ceremony. "Only Allah knows if Merapi will explode."

Police manned roadblocks Sunday preventing vehicles from getting within five miles of the volcano's crater, but allowed villagers to return home, advising them to leave again by nightfall.

"My feeling is it will not blow at this time," said Budi, a 30-year-old farmer, who came back to give grass to his cows. Like many other Indonesians, he goes by only one name

More than 4,500 people living in villages closest to the crater or next to rivers, where hot lava is more likely to flow down, had been evacuated by Sunday.

Sutikno, the emergency coordinator, said there were no plans to immediately move some 18,000 living lower down the slopes who were not considered in immediate danger.

Indonesia is prone to volcanic and seismic activity because it is part of the Pacific "Ring of Fire" — a series of fault lines stretching from the Western Hemisphere through Japan and Southeast Asia.

Merapi is about 250 miles east of the capital, Jakarta.