YOGYAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) – Indonesia’s most active volcano erupted Wednesday with a river of lava and scorching clouds of gas pouring 1,500 meters (4,900 feet) down the slopes.
It was Mount Merapi’s largest lava flow since authorities raised the hazard level in November, said Hanik Humaida, the head of Yogyakarta’s Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation Center.
Authorities had evacuated nearly 2,000 people living on the mountain in the Magelang and Sleman districts of Java Island by November, but most have since returned. No new evacuation has taken place.
The warning was enforced at the second highest level and authorities told people to stay out of the existing 5 kilometers (3 miles) danger zone around the crater as local authorities in Central Java and Yogyakarta provinces are closely monitoring the situation to follow.
The 2968 meter high volcano is located on the densely populated island of Java and close to the old city of Yogyakarta. It is the most active of dozens of Indonesian volcanoes and has recently erupted repeatedly with lava and gas clouds.
Merapi’s last major eruption in 2010 killed 347 people.
Indonesia, an archipelago of 270 million people, is prone to earthquakes and volcanic activity because it lies along the Pacific ‘Ring of Fire,’ a horseshoe-shaped series of seismic fault lines around the ocean.