Aug 8, 2021: The most powerful Indonesian volcano has erupted on the densely populated island of Java, raising smoke and ash into the air and sending streams of lava and gas onto its slopes.

Mount Merapi landed clouds of hot ash at least seven times on Sunday, as well as a series of high-speed pyroclastic flow, a mixture of rock, debris, lava and gases, said Hanik Humaida, who heads the Indonesian city of Yogyakarta’s Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation Center.

The sound of rumbling could be heard for many kilometers. No casualties have been reported as yet.

Humaida added that the mountain has seen an increase in volcanic activity in recent weeks, with its lava dome rising rapidly before partial collapse on Sunday, causing rocks and ash to flow into the southwestern part of the volcano.

Villagers living on Merapi’s fertile slopes were advised to stay 5km (3.1 miles) away from the crater’s mouth and should be aware of the danger posed by lava, Indonesia’s Geology and Volcanology Research Agency said.

The last major explosion of Indonesian volcano Merapi was in 2010 when killed at least 350 people.

Indonesian Mount Merapi is the most active of the more than 120 active volcanoes in Indonesia and has recently erupted repeatedly with lava and gas clouds.

The 2,968-meter (9,737-foot) peak is near Yogi Karta, the ancient city of millions of people embedded in a large metro area. The city is also a center of Javanese culture and a stronghold of royal families that is centuries old.

Indonesian geological agency said on its website that the fresh eruption sent 1,000 meters (3,280 feet) of hot ash into the sky and gusts of gas landed on its slopes for 3km (1.8m).

The Volcano and Geological Risk Reduction Center did not raise the alert level of Merapi, which was already at the second highest of the four alertness ranks since the eruption last November.

Indonesia, an island of 270 million people, is prone to earthquakes and volcanic activity as it sits along the Pacific Ocean “Ring of Fire”, a horse-shaped series of seismic fault lines around the ocean.

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