Villagers Return Despite Merapi Activity
Jacob Cherian - All Headline News Contributor Mount Merapi, Indonesia (AHN) - Villagers returned to the slopes of Indonesia's Mount Merapi on Friday, saying they could not afford to leave livestock and crops unattended. The volcano has been venting steam and debris for more than a month, and on Thursday spit hot ash 3 1/2 miles down its southern flank. AP reports more than 15,000 people who had refused to heed evacuation orders fled. Some jumped into rivers to escape the searing heat. Others ran down the mountain or drove to emergency shelters in towns below. Udi Sutrisno said, "I thought this is it" with tears in his eyes as he sat with his wife and 10-year-old son in a field dotted with Red Cross tents, 10 miles from the mountain's base. "We ran as fast as we could." The volcano appeared calmer Friday, though a local monitoring station tallied 63 lava bursts and nine small gas emissions. Ash continued to rain on villages, covering crops and rooftops in a thin layer of gray soot, the official Antara news agency reported. Some scientists say a May 27 earthquake that killed more than 5,700 people in an area 25 miles south of Merapi may have contributed to the mountain's volatility in recent weeks.
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