YOGYAKARTA – Head of Vulcanology and Geological Disaster Mitigation, Dr Surono, said after eruption 2010, Mt. Merapi had different patterns. He considered it more active. “Merapi is no longer acting like before. More active, not calmed as before,” he said.
The man who is popularly called as Mbah Rono said that the dome of the mountain has now often ejected materials, including sulphur, fluids, magma and smokes. “It can be explosive or exclusive so it will form a dome on top of it. If Merapi should explode, those living in the area should evacuate,” said Mbah Rono to reporters in an international seminar on geospatial information related to disasters hosted by Faculty of Geography UGM and Geospatial Information Agency (BIG) in Hotel Inna Garuda Yogyakarta, Tuesday (30/7).
With the new patterns, Surono suggested experts and the local people around Merapi to take different stance. “It has now changed, so the people’s and experts’ stance should be different, too,” he said.
He supported the National Disaster Mitigation Agency that has made anticipatory measures if Merapi experiences a four year interval eruption in 2014. Even if the mountain did not explode, at least the people and government have taken precautions. “It wouldn’t matter if it does not explode, this is part of our alertness, because disasters happen due to recklessness,” he said.