Merapi Mini-Update for 11/6/2010
With the 600+ comments over on yesterday’s post about Merapi, I thought it would be a good idea to open a new thread. A couple brief updates on the state of the eruption at Merapi:
– A no-fly zone has been instituted around Merapi and flights in and out of cities as far away from Jakarta have been cancelled.
– There are reports of more pyroclastic flows issuing from the volcano today – mostly on Twitter feeds for people on the ground near the volcano (note: use with caution). Some of the tweets mention that Indonesian officials want people to move away from banks of rivers coming from Merapi, suggesting they think lahars might be generated.
– The death toll continues to climb from the eruption, now upwards of 140 and potential evacuees might top 1,000,000 as the high risk zone is extend outwards to 20 km from the volcano.
Keep on posting whatever information you can find on the eruption as we all try to keep up with the news.
Top left: Merapi erupting on November 6, 2010. You can clearly see the ash fall from the plinian column on the left side of the image along with abundant lightning generated by the plume. Click on the image to see a larger version.
