Merapi, one of the greatest and most active stratovolcano located on the border between Central Jawa and Yogyakarta, Indonesia; is now globally known for its ability to place fears and terror in the 21st century by unleashing her hot molten lava and spewed ashes across the region of Yogyakarta.
Merapi is the youngest in a group of volcanoes in southern Java. It is situated at a subduction zone, where the Indo-Australian Plate is sliding beneath the Eurasian Plate. It is one of at least 129 active volcanoes in Indonesia, part of the Pacific Ring of Fire – a section of fault lines stretching from the Western Hemisphere through Japan and South East Asia.
Cutaway diagram of subduction zone and an associated stratovolcano.
Stratigraphic analysis reveals that eruptions in the Merapi area began about 400,000 years ago, and from then until about 10,000 years ago, eruptions were typically effusive, and the out flowing lava emitted was basaltic. Since then, eruptions have become more explosive, with viscous andesitic lavas often generating lava domes. Dome collapse has often generated pyroclastic flows, and larger explosions, which have resulted in eruption columns, have also generated pyroclastic flows through column collapse.
Typically, small eruptions occur every two to three years, and larger ones every 10–15 years or so. Notable eruptions, often causing many deaths, have occurred in 1006, 1786, 1822, 1872, and 1930—when thirteen villages were destroyed and 1400 people killed by pyroclastic flows.
A very large eruption in 1006 is claimed to have covered all of central Java with ash. The volcanic devastation is claimed to have led to the collapse of the Hindu Kingdom of Mataram; however, there is insufficient evidence from that era for this to be substantiated.
The 2006 Merapi eruption which was quickly accompanied by a 6.3 Richter Scale earthquake roughly 50 km (30 miles) southwest of Merapi, devastated Yogyakarta and its residence. The districts most affected were Bantul and Gunung Kidul. Even the Immigration Office and the Adisutjipto airport were also affected by the destructive forces of the quake. The earthquake killed 5,000 people and leaving 200,000 people homeless. Many lost their love ones and also their home for shelter. Although this catastrophic event had come to past for almost 4 years, the people Yogyakarta will never forget what struck them on May 27, 2006.
Recently, on 25 October 2010 Merapi erupted three times, spewing lava down its southern and south-eastern slopes. Following the next day, the eruptive events of 26 October were classified as an explosive event with volcanic bursts of ejected material, visible flame and pyroclastic hot air flows. A column of smoke rose from the top to a vertical distance of 1.5 kilometres (0.93 mi) from the summit of the Mount Merapi.
The eruption at 05:55 on the morning of 4 November was reported as being five times stronger than the initial eruption on 26 October 2010. On 4 November Merapi had been erupting for 24 hours without stopping. Heat clouds of 600 to 800 degrees Celsius spread as far as 11.5 kilometres from the crater reaching toward the edge of the then 15 kilometres (9.3 mi) exclusion zone, and lava flowed into the mountain’s rivers.
Merapi erupted early on Friday 5 November 2010. Volcanic ash fell at Cangkringan village and its surroundings 10 kilometres (6.2 mi). Due to continuous large eruptions, the government extended the safety zone to 20 kilometres (12 mi) radius and Yogyakarta's airport was closed again for 3 hours in the morning. Volcanologists reported the eruptions of Friday 5 November to be the biggest since the 1870s and officials announced by loudspeaker that the mountain's danger zone had been expanded to 20 kilometres from the crater. Bronggang, a village 15 kilometres from the crater, had streets blanketed by ash up to 30-centimeters deep. By 5 November more than 100,000 people had been evacuated and the scientists monitoring the events were withdrawn from their posts to a safer distance.
This is just one volcano eruption in Central Jawa and prior to this volcanic activity, 21 other active volcanoes in the Jawa island also show signs of increasing activity recently. The ones that I read about is in Maluku, Sulawesi, Krakatoa island and Bromoh in Surabaya. Not forgetting the Mentawai earthquake plus tsunami that already destroyed hundreds of homes, schools, churches and mosques leaving many homeless and casualties. Therefore, my tutorial doctor once told me about Indonesia being the supermarket for disasters which I could not agree more and actually I would like to change it into A Hypermarket of Disasters.
Not only Indonesia is suffering from the wrath of disasters but other places around the world as well. Iceland just had its eruption of Eyjafjallajokul volcano in April this year and New Zealand also just had its earthquake on September 4.
Lastly, I would like to say that our earth is on its way to its tipping point and if humanity don’t find or reach their tipping point to change soon, we might be able to see the events and images from the 2012 movie.
References:
www.thestar.com.my ( Indonesia volcano shoots new blasts; 21 more rumble)
www.thestar.com.my ( Indonesia volcano forces flight cancellations)
www.wikipedia.com ( Mount Merapi, Stratovolcano)
www.detiknews.com (Merapi Masih Erupsi, Penutupan Bandara Adisutjipto Diperpanjang Hingga 20 November)
http://www.bbc.co.uk/ (New Zealand earthquake damaged 100,000 homes)
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