Total evacuation prepared as Indonesian volcano nears eruption

[stevedeshazer]

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2006-05/13/content_4541218.htm

<snip>

JAKARTA, May 13 (Xinhua) -- Indonesian authorities Saturday prepared to evacuate all residents near Mount Merapi in Central Java as the volcano is showing clear signs of eruption.

All residents living within the distance of 10 km from the peak of Merapi are ordered to leave, reported the national Antara news agency.

more at link

[stevedeshazer]

1. From the BBC: Red alert for Indonesia volcano

Indonesian authorities have ordered the compulsory evacuation of thousands of residents living on the slopes of the volcano Mount Merapi.

The alert level has been raised to the highest level, warning of an imminent eruption of the volcano which has been rumbling ominously for weeks.

The 3,000m (9,700ft) peak, in densely populated Central Java province, is in a state of "constant lava flow".

A gas cloud from the volcano's last eruption in 1994 killed 60 people.

[lovuian]

2. Edgar Cayce prediction

There will be upheavals in the Artic and Antarctic that will cause the eruption of volcanoes in the torrid areas, and pole shift.

[Joanne98]

4. Have you seen CayceTV?

http://caycetv.com/index.asp

It's really cool.Show number four is about the Akashic Records.

[daleo]

5. One wouldn't really cause the other, both being driven by plate tectonics

Although some tectonic plates are big enough that their subduction is causing upheavals in polar areas at more or less the same time that it is causing volcanoes in torrid areas. One isn't really causing the other, though.

A big comet strike might do those things too, and that would really be sudden.

[murpheeslaw]

6. Pressure in a closed system. (2nd post?)

Please bear with me: Does anyone remember a game with an open box into which you placed red, yellow and blue pegs of varying diameters? There was a bar across the width of the box and this was pressed up against the field of pegs - holding them tight to each other. There was a short length of dowel sticking out of each peg. The object of the game was to grasp the dowel and pull out a peg without causing the bar to shift, or (worst case) snap forward and send all the pegs flying. I remember how the removal of a single peg could cause the whole field of pegs to shift and reposition at once.

I've been thinking about this: The ice sheets appear to be melting. They are melting, in what is in geologic time, the blink of an eye. They weigh ALOT. If the land that used to be UNDER the ice sheet moves up, even by an inch, how much energy does that translate into? How much rejockying for position would the tectonic plates do? What is the final measure of an 8.0 earthquake in actual lateral or vertical movement? INCHES?

When the Ice Age came, it came on fast. (i.e. Mastadons frozen with buttercups in their bellies.) Was there a corresponding uptick in the number of earthquakes and volcanic eruptions as the land masses of Greenland, Antarctica and Siberia/Alaska were buried (and maybe sank) under hundreds of feet of snow that evenually packed to ice?

Pardon my tin foil hat and doom and gloom. Just something to make you say . . . . HMMMMMMM?

[daleo]

7. Well, there is such a thing as isostatic rebound

Many places on the earth are still slowly rising from the melting of the vast ice cover of the last ice age (e.g. Wisconsin, I believe). It is a natural response of the earth's lithosphere (crust and top part of the mantle), when the a heavy overlying mass is removed (i.e. melts).

I don't think global warming will affect plate tectonics per se - that operates on huge scales of time and spacial expense and is thought to be in response to global scale heat convection within the earth's mantle. That heat is still a result of the earth's formation and of radioactive substances.

Which isn't to say global warming won't be catastrophic for human society or the environment.

[Divernan]

3. I'm going volcano observing in July to Montserrat

Half of that island is a forbidden zone/no man's land; good luck to the poor people living so close to the Java volcano. The power of nature is so incredible - makes me understand why primitive man created all kinds of gods-in-control of various aspects (fire - water - air, etc.) of nature so they could kid themselves that prayer and offerings would bring protection. James Michener's book, The Source, does a good job on the subject.

[SoCalDem]

8. Eruption of Volcano Imminent; Indonesian Government Orders Evacuation

If this thing blows BIG, I wonder what the implications are for a tsunami...






Eruption of Volcano Imminent; Indonesian Government Orders Evacuation
By Marianne Kearney
Jakarta
13 May 2006

Indonesia has raised the alert level for the Merapi volcano in central Java to the highest level. And the government has started evacuating the 34,000 people living on the slopes of the volcano, which is about 400 kilometers east of Jakarta. Asnawarin Nasution, a scientist from the national volcanology center in Bandung, explains that the massive lava dome that crowns Merapi has been growing at an alarming rate.

"The dome also already is becoming higher and higher, so we worried that something happen," he said. "The dome already, I heard it become one million cubic meters, and, every day, I heard it increase 150,000 cubic meters, nearly every day." Once the dome collapses, streams of lava, which scientists call pyroclastic flow, are expected to pour rapidly down the mountain's slopes via several rivers.

"There are several rivers that are sourced from the summit," said Asnawarin Nasution. "We worry that the pyroclastic flow, that is called wudus gendol, according to local name, that we worried about the flowing down the river, because, maybe, you know, already, the height of the summit is 3,000 meters. It is a very, very steep slope, that also increases the speeding when the lava coming down."

snip

[leftyladyfrommo]

9. Why are all the really dangerous things so beautiful?

My family lives in Washington State so I pay attention to volcanoes. This one may be a real doozy - or it could just be a big flop. I don't think you can tell until they actually blow. Since it's not out at sea I don't think that it should creat a tsunami - but I don't know. I think Krakatoa started a tsunami. And it was on land.

[SoCalDem]

10. Krakatoa caused a HUGE tsunami

If this eruption is violent enough, it could trigger quakes.. That's what worries me.. The island is very narrow..

[leftyladyfrommo]

11. That's why I always worry when they have quakes in Washington.

They have some pretty strong ones over on the coast and I'm always afraid they could set off the sleeping volcanoes - which are everywhere up there. I grew up in Spokane and there was lava everywhere. I'm not sure where it came from. It could have been Mt. Spokane which was active at one time or even a really powerful volcano on the coast. But 400 hundred miles seems kind of far for lava to come from the coast.

[daleo]

13. Huge and sudden releases of energy do tend to be fascinating for people

Perhaps it reflects our complicated human relationship with fire.

Not all dangerous things are beautiful, though. Take Bush for instance. Or malaria mosquitoes.

[uppityperson]

12. "pyroclastic flow"=cement running at 50 mph

nasty things.

[greenman3610]

14. red hot cement with boulders and trees in it

[cliss]

15. Thanks for the update, So Cal.

An elegant, beautiful presentation of a very scary-looking volcano.

We've got Mt. St. Helens about 50 miles away, so we're in the same ring of fire.

[SoCalDem]

20. My son lives in Seattle and he was a bit freaked out to

see volcano evacuation signs when he first moved there:scared:.. he was on top of a scaffold talking to me on his cell phone when you guys had your shake-shake a few years ago ..

[leftyladyfrommo]

21. Did you see this morning where people are going back home

to care for their animals and crops - despite the threat.

So ar so good, I guess. I haven't heard where it's blown up yet.

[VolcanoJen]

16. I swear, I had nothing to do with it

}(

[SoCalDem]

17. A likely story

:hi:

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