Indonesia’s Mount Merapi volcano (Fire Mountain) has erupted for the fourth time in three days, extending the disaster which has killed at least 34 and driven 40,000 people from their homes, Reuters reports.
Indonesian scientists had been tracking Mount Merapi’s increasing activity for days, and issued an initial evacuation order on Monday, Oct. 25. The evacuation helped limit loss of life during the first eruption.
Many evacuees had been heading back to their homes on Thursday, after a day of apparent inactivity from the volcano, but no new casualties have been reported so far.
Mount Merapi erupted three times Tuesday, the first just hours after a tsunami caused by an undersea quake swept past the northern Indonesian Mentawai islands, killing at least 343.
The 9,700-foot Mount Merapi in Central Java is Indonesia’s most active volcano, with a history of lethal eruptions. In 2006, an eruption coupled with an earthquake killed 5,000 people.
Indonesian scientists had been tracking Mount Merapi’s increasing activity for days, and issued an initial evacuation order on Monday, Oct. 25. The evacuation helped limit loss of life during the first eruption.
Many evacuees had been heading back to their homes on Thursday, after a day of apparent inactivity from the volcano, but no new casualties have been reported so far.
Mount Merapi erupted three times Tuesday, the first just hours after a tsunami caused by an undersea quake swept past the northern Indonesian Mentawai islands, killing at least 343.
The 9,700-foot Mount Merapi in Central Java is Indonesia’s most active volcano, with a history of lethal eruptions. In 2006, an eruption coupled with an earthquake killed 5,000 people.
