Latest Merapi eruption, Thursday-November 4, 2010, the largest eruption over the past eight days

Merapi volcano spewed clouds of hot ash and lava in a violent explosive eruption on Thursday, November 4, 2010 around 6am . The eruption column reaches 4000 meters heights. It was the largest in a series of eruptions over the past eight days. There were no reports of new casualties. Forty two causalities recorded since the beginning of eruption in October 26, 2010 (updated as in Thursday, November 4, 2010).

Almost 80,000 people have been forced from their homes by the recent eruption into emergency shelters outside a 10 km exclusion zone around the volcano. On Wednesday, November 3, 2010, the authorities extended the radius of the zone to more than 15 km, ordering evacuations that could affect at least 100,000 people.

Figure caption: the latest Merapi eruption as seen from Yogyakarta city that located 25 km from the volcano. The picture was taken on 6 am, Thursday, November 4, 2010. The eruption column reaches 4000 meters height. (Photo courtesy of Reza Muzzamil Jufri)