YOGYAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) – Indonesia’s most active volcano erupted on Wednesday, with a lava river and gas clouds flowing 1,500 meters on slopes.
It has been the largest lava flow on Mount Merapi since authorities raised the danger level in November, said Hanik Humaida, head of the Yogyakarta Center for Volcanology and Geological Hazards.
Authorities in November evacuated nearly 2,000 people living in the mountains in Magelang and Sleman districts on the island of Java, but most have since returned. There was no new evacuation.
The alert was maintained at the second highest level, and authorities told people to stay out of the existing 5-kilometer (3-mile) danger zone around the crater as local governments in Central Java and Yogyakarta provinces closely monitors the situation.
The 2,968-meter (9,737-foot) volcano is located on the densely populated island of Java and near the ancient city of Yogyakarta. It is the most active of dozens of Indonesian volcanoes and has erupted repeatedly with clouds of lava and gas recently.
The last major eruption of Merapi in 2010 killed 347 people.
Indonesia, an archipelago of 270 million people, is prone to earthquakes and volcanic activity because it is located along the Pacific “Ring of Fire”, a series of horseshoe-shaped seismic fault lines around the ocean.