Volcano alert falls on deaf ears

Merapi has been spewing lava for weeks

Thousands of villagers around Mount Merapi in Indonesia have refused to leave their homes despite warnings that the volcano could erupt at any minute.

Officials ordered everyone within an 8km (five-mile) radius to evacuate on Saturday when the mountain began belching clouds of ash and smoke, and streams of hot lava rolled down its slopes.

Based on experience, Merapi becomes calm before it erupts

Vulcanologist Ratdo Mopurbo

Many locals spent the night in schools and village halls ready to move out but most had returned to their farms by morning to look after animals and crops, officials said.

Scientists say the highest alert is still in place for the country's most active volcano, even though lava flows and emissions have reduced over the last 24 hours.

Ash has risen miles into the sky

"There are no plans to reduce the warning status. Based on experience, Merapi becomes calm before it erupts," said Ratdo Mopurbo, one scientist monitoring the volcano on the main island of Java.

Another warned of the potential disaster posed by a vast build-up of lava at Merapi's summit.

"The villagers are in a very dangerous situation because the mountain is so unpredictable," he said.

Local police, however, say only a small number of elderly people and children have complied with the order to go.

Violent history

Vulcanologists have been monitoring Merapi for weeks but have yet to classify its month-long rumblings, however violent, as an eruption.

Merapi menace

1998: Ash and gas force thousands to flee

1994: 60 killed

1930: 1,300 killed

The mountain's most destructive episode in living memory was in 1930, when about 1,300 people were killed.

In November 1994 it erupted again without warning, killing more than 60 people.

Four years later thousands were forced to flee their homes as it spewed ash and toxic gas.

Ash cloud

Although there have been no casualties so far, Merapi has already sparked health fears across a wide area.

Ash rain - which can cause respiratory illnesses, skin diseases, diarrhoea and severe eye infections - is reported to have fallen on cities as far as 100km away.

Thousands have made homes on the mountain's rich soil

Thousands of masks have been distributed to people living near the 2,968 metre (9,794-foot) volcano.

Merapi is one of some 500 volcanoes in Indonesia, at least 129 of which are considered active.

It lies in one of Indonesia's most densely populated regions, and is only a few kilometres from the ancient city of Yogyakarta, an area now home to two million people.

The city remains unaffected so far.

Indonesia is near the "Ring of Fire" - the circle around the Pacific Ocean on which lie most of the world's active volcanoes above sea level.