Merapi Flashcards
When
2010
Where
Indonesia, part of an active volcanic arc in the Pacific Ring of Fire
What plate boundary
Subduction of Indo-Australian plate below Eurasian plate
Eruption type
Used to be effusive with basaltic lava, now more explosive
How many live on slopes
11,000
Eruptions
25-26th Oct: 3 eruptions, 1.5km smoke column, 3km pyroclastic flow. 30th Oct: 4th eruption, 30km ashfall. 4th Nov: heavy rain, lahars
How many evacuation centres and temporary hospitals set up
210
Exclusion zone size
20km, 2.5km permanently
Government response
Helped farmers replace livestock, Indonesian Disaster Management Agency mobilised 16,000 volunteers, police, and military
Other governments’ response
Humanitarian Aid department of the European Commission funded food and sanitation e.g. in Boyolali district
NGO response
Red Cross and Red Crescent NGOs offered aid
How many died
353 from eruption, 5000 from earthquake triggered (also triggered tsunami)
How much money lost
£450m
How much ash fall
30cm 15km from volcano in Bronggang village
How many homeless
200,000
Socio-economic impacts
Lava flows closed roads, disease in overcrowded evacuation centres
Environmental impacts
SO2 blown across S Australia and Indonesia, acidic lava and ash contaminated water, more fertile soil later, geothermal energy, destroyed surrounding forests
Political impacts
Pressure on government to form safety and evacuation plans, conflicts with government for compensation
Issues with monitoring
Locals more likely to listen to traditional warning signs
Successes with monitoring
March: volcanic dome bulge on tiltmeters. September: earthquakes and white smoke
Improvements with monitoring
Now magnetic measurements not just seismometers
