Indonesia Volcano Emits Lava as Top Alert Remains in Place
Hadi Sunarto, speaking from a monitoring outpost on the southwest slope of Mount Merapi, said his office was maintaining the highest level of alert, which has been in place since Saturday.
"There are still signs of a possible eruption," he told AFP.
On Saturday hundreds of people were evacuated and authorities announced the top alert level -- meaning an eruption was imminent -- when Merapi belched heat clouds and lava that ran 6.5 kilometers (four miles) down its slopes.
But Sunarto said most had since returned to their farms on the lower slopes and foot of the volcano, which has been rumbling for weeks, as it showed signs of calming down.
He said the main concern came from a new buildup of millions of tons of lava inside the old Merapi crater, which could pour molten rock and sand if it caves in.
Meanwhile, NGO activists distributed hundreds of surgical masks, medicine and rice to residents in the village of Kali Urang near the volcano, an AFP photographer said.
Sleman District Chief Ibnu Subiyanto said efforts to evacuate residents had been halted, but that children and elderly people had been told to stay at evacuation posts.
"To evacuate them is an incredibly difficult task because not only do we have to move the people but also their cattle. They want to take their cows with them," Subiyanto told the SCTV channel.
He said the local government was preparing 500 million rupiah ($52,000) to evacuate 12,000 residents should the need arise.
The Indonesian Volcanology Office recognizes four danger levels for a volcano -- normal, beware, be prepared and alert (AWAS) -- the last being the signal for an imminent eruption.
In 1997, heat clouds and ash rain prompted the evacuation of at least 18,000 people. When Merapi last erupted in 1994 at least 60 people were killed and more than 6,000 fled to safer ground.
Since 1930, Merapi eruptions have killed around 1,300 people.