Jakarta Globe, November 02, 2010
Mount Merapi, Indonesia. Malaysia’s AirAsia and Singapore’s SilkAir airlines havecanceled flights to two Indonesian destinations because of volcanic ash from Mount Merapi that began erupting a week ago.
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| Flights are being affected as the Merapi volcano continued to erupt on Tuesday. (AP Photo/Irwin Fedriansyah) |
An official of budget airline AirAsia says four of its flights between Kuala Lumpur and the cities of Solo and Yogyakarta were scrapped on Tuesday. The two cities are about 30 kilometers from the crater.
She says the airline has not canceled Wednesday’s flights so far. The official declined to be identified, citing company policy.
A SilkAir reservation agent in Singapore also says two flights to Solo were canceled on Tuesday. He says he has no information about Wednesday’s flight.
They are the first international airlines to suspend flights to Indonesia since Merapi erupted.
Indonesia’s most dangerous volcano, meanwhile, showed no sign of tiring on Tuesday, belching clouds of black smoke as fiery lava lit up its cauldron. Scientistswarned that the slow but deadly eruption could continue for weeks, like a “marathon, not a sprint.”
The activity was accompanied by rumbling at 21 other active volcanos in Indonesia, twice the number usually on the government’s “watch” list, which raised questions about what’s causing the uptick along some of the world’s most volatile fault lines.
No casualties were reported in Mount Merapi’s latest blast, which came as Indonesia struggled to respond to an earthquake-generated tsunami that devastated a remote chain of islands. The two disasters unfolding in separateparts of the country have killed nearly 470 people and strained the government’s emergency response network.
In both events, the military has been called in to help.
Merapi, one of the world’s most active volcanoes, has killed 38 people since springing back to life just over a week ago.
There have since been more than 10 large eruptions, including a violent burst Monday that appears to have eased pressure building up inside the crater by creating a vent for magma to escape.
“There’s no way of knowing for sure, of course,” said Safari Dwiyono, who has observed the mountain for more than 15 years. “But based on what we’ve seen in the last few days, we’re hoping there won’t be a massive explosion. It’s looking like we’re in for a marathon, not a sprint.”
The nearly 70,000 villagers evacuated from the area around Merapi’s once-fertile slopes —now blanketed by gray ash — have been told they could be expected to stay in crowded government camps for at least three more weeks.
More than 1,300 kilometers to the west, meanwhile, a C-130 transport plane, six helicopters and four boats were ferrying aid to the most distant corners of the Mentawai islands, where last week’s tsunami destroyed hundreds of homes, schools, churches and mosques. The tsunami death toll stood Monday at 431, theNational Disaster Management Agency said on its Web site.
Associated Press
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