MT Merapi only spewed hot clouds three times on Friday

Yogyakarta (ANTARA News) - Mt Merapi spewed hot clouds three times only on Friday, namely from 00.00 hours to 06.00 hours with the clouds eventually stretching themselves over a distance up to 2.5 kilometers.

From 06.00 hours to 15.00 no hot cloud came out of the volcano. Although its activity has declined it is still producing hot clouds and therefore it still remain under caution status, the head of the Merapi Section of the Volcanology Technological Reserach and Development, Subandriyo, said.

He said hot clouds remained the most dangerous threat coming from the mountain so that they had to be continously watched, he said.

The lave dome at the mountain`s summit meanwhile is continuing to build up but its rate is less than 150 meter cubic a day recorded earlier.

The form of the dome is also changing with one side of the dome growing while the other one shrinking.

A total of 14 multiple-phase tremors and 17 tremors caused by lava falls were recorded to occur from 00.00 hours to 06.00 hours that day.

The top of the mountain could not seen clearly that day as it was covered by fog.

People in villages around the mountain continued conducting their daily activities normally with women and children staying at camps.(*)