Indonesia volcano death toll doubles

November 5, 2010

INDONESIA: Indonesia's Mount Merapi volcano erupted with renewed ferocity

Friday, killing another 64 people and blanketing the surrounding area with ash.

Ten days of eruptions have now killed more than 80 people and forced the

evacuation of more than 75,000 people.

Mount Merapi, on the outskirts of Yogyakarta city in Central Java, began spewing

deadly clouds of ash and superheated gas last week.

Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, the director of disaster risk reduction at the National

Disaster Mitigation Agency, said the death toll had climbed significantly in the

last 24 hours.

" Because of today's eruption, we found 64 bodies, so the total death toll is 83,

and another 66 have been injured, so the total number of injured is 185 people, "

he told Reuters.

A column of ash billowed at least four km above the crater of Mount Merapi as

worried authorities evacuated villages within a 20 km radius of the volcano,

said the country's top vulcanologist, Surono.

" It's much worse than in the past. We cannot predict its behaviour, " he said.

A Reuters photographer near the volcano said he saw blackened burn victims being

carried into the Sardjito hospital on Friday morning.

" Their clothes had melted onto their skin, " he said.

The air in Yogykarta is now so thick with ash that motorists must drive with

their headlights on during the day, he said.

" We can't see anything, it's very dark. The trees are all white with ash, " he

said. " It's like it's raining sand. " Indonesia is also struggling with the

aftermath of a tsunami in the remote Mentawai islands off Sumatra last week that

killed at least 431. Sleman, Friday, Reuters

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