Thursday, November 18, 2010

Indonesian volcano toll up to 275

World Worst disasters
The death toll in the ongoing eruption of Indonesia's Mount Merapi has now reached 275, officials there say. The volcano, on the island of Java, is 17 miles north of Jogjakarta City, in a highly populated and heavily farmed area.

Indonesia's National Disaster Management Agency said many of the recent victims died of severe burns. Mount Merapi began erupting on October 26. The strongest recent blast was November 5.

According to the Smithsonian Institution's Global Volcanism Program, Mount Merapi, 9,737 feet tall, is one of the country's most active volcanoes and considered one of its most dangerous. It has a history of pyroclastic flows and lahars that have devastated farmlands and villages on the volcano's western-to-southern flanks during historical time.

The volcano is monitored by the Volcanological Technology Research Center in Yogyakarta.

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