MOUNT MERAPI VOLCANO IN INDONESIA'S CROWDED JAVA PROVINCE BELCHED THICK CLOUDS OF BLACK SMOKE AND SENT LAVA FLOWS FROM ITS CRATER SUNDAY AS THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE LIVING ON THE SLOPES DEFIED ORDERS TO EVACUATE THEIR HOMES, EXPERTS AND GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS SAID, ACCORDING TO DPA. ON LATE SUNDAY AFTERNOON, MERAPI BELCHED THICK CLOUDS OF BLACK SMOKE INTO THE AIR AND EMITTED LAVA FLOWS DOWN ITS SLOPES AS FAR AS 2,300 METRES FROM THE CRATER. VOLCANOLOGISTS SAID A BIG ERUPTION WAS POSSIBLE AT ANY TIME. GOVERNMENT AUTHORITIES IN FOUR DIFFERENT DISTRICTS ON THE SLOPES OF MERAPI HAVE SAID THAT MORE THAN 30,000 PEOPLE LIVING IN THE DANGER ZONES MUST BE EVACUATED. BY SUNDAY AFTERNOON, ONLY 12,000 PEOPLE HAD BEEN EVACUATED TO DOZENS OF MAKESHIFT SHELTERS SCATTERED THROUGHOUT THE DISTRICTS OF MAGELANG, KLATEN, BOYOLALI AND SLEMAN. MANY THOUSANDS OF OTHERS CHOSE TO REMAIN IN THEIR HOMES. MOST OF THE EVACUATED PERSONS WERE WOMEN, CHILDREN AND THE ELDERLY, THE OFFICIALS SAID, EXPECTING THAT MORE RESIDENTS WOULD FLEE THEIR HOMES FOLLOWING THE VOLCANO'S INCREASING ACTIVITY ON LATE SUNDAY AFTERNOON. "I DO EXPECT THERE WILL BE MORE AND MORE PEOPLE READY TO EVACUATE AFTER THEY WATCHED THE VOLCANO'S LATEST ACTIVITY," SAID IMAM PURWADI, AN OFFICIAL OF KLATEN DISTRICT. THE 2,968-METRE-HIGH MERAPI, ABOUT 450 KILOMETRES SOUTHEAST OF JAKARTA, IS ONE OF 65 VOLCANOES LISTED AS DANGEROUS IN INDONESIA. ITS MOST DEADLY ERUPTION TOOK PLACE IN 1930, WHEN 1,370 PEOPLE WERE KILLED. IT ALSO ERUPTED IN 1994, CLAIMING THE LIVES OF AT LEAST 66. VOLCANOLOGISTS ON SATURDAY RAISED THE ALERT STATUS OF MERAPI TO ITS HIGHEST LEVEL, MEANING THAT AN ERUPTION COULD COME SOON.
