Mt. Merapi, Indonesia 2010

 Mount Merapi 

   The Volcano

     Mount Merapi is an active volcano just north of the city of Yogyakarta on the island of Java in the Indian oceanwith the city of Yogyakarta having a population of 2.4 million when the eruption occured. Mt. Merapi is a composite volcano standing at approximately 9551 feet (InternetGeography, 2022). The Volcano has been quite active throughout history with smaller eruptions occur every 2-3 years and larger ones occurring every 10-15 years. Within the last100 years there have been 10 eruptions at Mt. Merapi with human casualties. Mt. Merapi's smaller eruptions tend to be effusive with small amounts of pyroclastic flow but when the larger eruptions occur, they tend to be explosive with all sorts of pyroclastic flow, lava flows and landslides involved (InternetGeography, 2022). 

(Mt. Merapi releasing hot clouds provided by NBC news (NBC, 2021))

 The Eruption

    On October 25-30th of 2010 Mt. Merapi erupted a total of 3 times. The evacuation area immediately after the first eruption on October 25th extended approximately 20km around the volcano causing 350,000 people to flee their homes for safety (InternetGeography, 2022). The Eruptions caused smoke to rise out of the volcano approximately 1.5km high (NASA, 2010). After the pyroclastic flow began to subside the evacuation orders remained for the area and through October 29th lava continued to flow. As the Ash fell and lava flowed it traveling down the slopes approximately 3km increasing the death toll from 19 from the initial eruption to 30. Then on October 30th the Volcano seemingly exploded launching a massive fireball 2km vertically in the air. This explosion launched ash more than 30km away and caused some areas to experience light raining of sand up to 10km away. With the combined events across October 25th-30th the death toll reached 353 people (InternetGeography, 2022). 

(Lava and ash spews from the top of Mount Merapi, viewed from Klaten district in Central Java province before dawn on November 6, 2010. (Boston Globe, 2010))

Aftermath

    The Eruptions from Mount Merapi caused lava flows, pyroclastic flows, lahars, and landslides across the city of Yogyakarta and its surrounding areas. The devastation from the eruptions left approximately 200,000 people without homes and displaced ~320,000 people (InternetGeography, 2022). After the Eruptions an earth ensued 50km south-west of the mountain which caused around 5,000 more deaths due to the mass movement of people from the surrounding area (InternetGeography, 2022). On the economic front, ski resorts were destroyed from the lava and ash, farms were made barren due to the pyroclastic flow, ash and lava and planes as far as western Australia were grounded due to the ash in the air reducing travel and tourism. Water supplies were tainted by ash and acidic lava and due to the large column of smoke that erupted from the initial eruption sulfur dioxide was released and blow across south Indonesia and into Australia (NASA, 2010). The ash in the air also caused those with respiratory issues to fall ill with more severe illnesses (InternetGeography, 2022).

(Farmer in his corn field covered in ash from Mount Merapi eruption in Central Java, Indonesia on Monday, Nov. 8, 2010. (Boston Globe, 2010))

Discussion

    Due to the lack of relative wealth in the surrounding areas of Mount Merapi the evacuation and destruction that the eruption caused had a massive impact on the citizens of Yogyakarta as well as the surrounding areas. Most building surrounding the mountain were wooden homes fashioned by farmers to tend the rich volcanic soils which caused them to ignite much easier and burn down destroying a large part of the areas farming infrastructure A lack of medical centers and relief areas for the people of the city, despite living next to one of Indonesia's most active volcanoes was a massive oversight which led to a large death toll and an increased recovery time for the people of this area. Another major oversight was the neglect of the area’s monitoring systems for the volcano which had not been updated at all since the 1970’s. The eruption in 2010 did lead to many new evacuation centers to be made and the monitoring systems the city used to finally be updated to a more standard technological level (InternetGeography, 2022). The city of Yogyakarta as started funds to assists farmers who needed to replace their crops and livestock that were lost in the eruptions (InternetGeography, 2022).

 

(Effects of the Merapi volcano eruption in Indonesia in October/November 2010. Posted by hshdude)

 

References

InternetGeography. (2022, February 4). The 2010 eruption of Mount Merapi. Internet Geography. Retrieved October 31, 2022, from https://www.internetgeography.net/topics/the-2010-eruption-of-mount-merapi/

NBC. (2021, January 7). Hundreds evacuated as Indonesia's Mount Merapi Volcano Spews Hot Clouds. NBCNews.com. Retrieved October 31, 2022, from https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/hundreds-evacuated-indonesia-s-mount-merapi-volcano-spews-hot-clouds-n1253330

Boston Globe. (n.d.). Mount Merapi's eruptions. Boston.com. Retrieved October 31, 2022, from http://archive.boston.com/bigpicture/2010/11/mount_merapis_eruptions.html

hshdude. (2012, July 15). Merapi Volcano Eruption 2010. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=10zR5KaMVm8

NASA. (2010). Eruption at Mount Merapi, Indonesia. NASA. Retrieved October 31, 2022, from https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/46881/eruption-at-mount-merapi-indonesia