Indonesia upgrades Java volcano alert status

0 Comments | AFP, March, 2006

JAKARTA (AFP) — Vulcanologists have upgraded an alert on Indonesia's Mount Merapi volcano on densely-populated Java island after it recorded increased activity.

Residents living near the 2,911 meter (9,606 feet) volcano were put on alert Thursday after it emitted 180 tremors during the past week, the state Antara news agency said.

"The status upgrade followed a significant increase in the volcano's activity," vulcanologist Ratdomo Purbo was quoted as saying.

Merapi, which has been rumbling intermittently over the past four years, looms above a plain located in the southern area of Central Java province, north of the cultural city of Yogyakarta.

Indonesia sits on the "Pacific Rim of Fire" noted for its volcanic and seismic activity. The country has...