Yogyakarta, 7 November 2010:  Mount Merapi continues to belch vast amounts of hot gas and ash into the sky, covering the areas around the volcano with a layer of chocking ash. The district of Megalang is particularly hard hit with roads, houses and tress covered in a thick layer of sticky ash which has mixed with rain water. Tree branches, bamboo and palm tree branches are now breaking under the weight of the ash.

Several rivers in the district are swollen with a gooey mixture of ash, water and debris.

Local authorities and military continue their efforts to provide for the some 96,000 displaced in this district alone. The Indonesian army has noe set up a tent camp on a football field large enough to house some 5,000 people. While most inhabitants have now left the danger zone of 20km around the mountain, there are reports of at least two villages which continue to refues to evavuate. In addition, thousands of young men are risking their lives on a daily basis byt travelling up to their damaged villages closed to the summit to search for belongings and any surviving livestock, before returning to the reception centers in the evening.

Local vulcanolofists fear that the eruptions could continue for many weeks to come.

Photo credit: Mathias Eick EU/ECHO

Magelang district, west south-west from the volcano,

7 November 2010