Asia-Pacific

Indonesia's volcano erupts

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2010-10-26 21:50

Villagers standing on a truck are evacuated to Girikerto village in Sleman, near the ancient city of Yogyakarta, October 26, 2010. [Photo/Agencies]?

JAKARTA - Indonesia's volcano in densely populated Central Java erupted on Tuesday afternoon, spewing hot ashes, pushing thousands of people to evacuate, head of volcanology monitoring unit at Volcanology Afgency Muhammad Hendratno said. ?

Mount Merapi of 2,968 meters high erupted three times, the first eruption was at 17:02 pm Jakarta time (1002 GMT), Hendratmo told Xinhua.

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Local television reported one baby die after suffering from respiratory problem and 12 others suffered from serious injuries from hot ash.

Hendratmo said that the eruption was the beginning of eruption phase.

Observer at monitoring post for Mount Merapi in Sleman district of Yoyakarta Heru Saparwoko told Xinhua by phone from the district that cloud had hampered them to monitor how far the hot ash spread.

"We will keep monitoring the peak of eruption," he said. ?

The television footage displayed thousands of panic residence rush to leave the dangerous area by car or other vehicles to take shelters in barracks. ?

Authorities forced those living in the area nearest to the mount to escape, official at Yogyakarta Disaster and Mitigation Management Agency named only Rusdiyanto told Xinhua by phone from Yogyakarta.

"Those living at the radius of 0 to 5 kilometers from the crater must leave the area immediately," he said.

Indonesian Volcanology has recommended residence living in the radius of 10 kilometers from the volcano to escape.

There are more than 10,000 people live in the area and more than 40,000 others near the mount, officials have said.