Considering the devastating power of a volcanic eruption, the lava flows, toxic gases released and smothering ashes, 153 deaths seems like a rather small number. If the figures in the article are correct, the people of Indonesia were somewhat fortunate, all things considered, as it could have been much worse. TGO
Refer to brief story below. Source: Associated Press
MOUNT MERAPI, Indonesia – The death toll in two weeks of eruptions from Indonesia’s most volatile volcano has risen to 153.
Residents of the city at the base of Mount Merapi are fleeing, afraid that the volcano will erupt again. It is still spewing ash, though it has not had a major eruption since Friday.
In that blast, whole villages were smothered and people were cut down by searing gases that raced down the mountain at highway speeds.
A hospital at the base of the volcano says that 12 more bodies were brought to the morgue Tuesday, including seven pulled from a destroyed village. Another five people who were being treated for burns died.
Merapi has erupted many times in the last century, killing more than 1,400.
