Merapi - The View From Over Here Part 3

Total blackout again last night. I had a lot of text messages and phone calls last night with contradicting news, but confirmation shows no signs of worsening conditions. On the contrary it seems Merapi has calmed down a bit, but news still say that the worse may have yet to come.

Being just outside the 20 km danger zone, some of my neighbours have opted to evacuate for the night for fear of expanded danger zone and lack of news (having no electricity). They have come back home again this morning, but we're all ready to evacuate if things get worse.

I've got people asking about the residents of Panti Asih, Pakem. Well, I've just got news: they're all safe. They were evacuated to a seminary just north of Yogyakarta's Ring Road (Anging Mammiri Seminary). There were 72 people. 51 of them have since been taken home by their families, which leaves 21 people still taking refuge in the seminary.

Merapi - The View From Over Here Part 2

Last night we had the largest eruption so far. We had a total blackout until this morning, and it rained sand and ash. The rumbling of the mountain can be heard until dawn. Danger zone is increased to a radius of 20km. My friends who live higher up have evacuated already.

Masks are highly recommended now.

I had taken some pictures, but with internet connection being totally unstable and slow, I'll upload it later.

Update:

Pics uploaded. You can clearly see the ash buildup from Thursday night's ashfall. And this is mild compared to other places.

I went for a ride through the city at Friday afternoon (had to take my parents to the train station), and it was like driving through the desert. Ash and dust everywhere. Visibility is limited, although not too dangerous yet, and lots of vehicles look like they've just been through a cross country rally. Rain helped to settle the dust, but once it dries up, it's going to get dusty again.

Merapi - The View From Over Here

I just took this picture a moment ago from my room balcony:

Here's a closer view, where you can clearly see the mountain spewing volcanic ash into the air:

While my neighbourhood is still lucky enough not to receive hazardous volumes of volcanic ash, the people in the city have not been as lucky in the past few days. Therefore I'd recommend anyone traveling to the vicinity of Yogyakarta to have a mask handy, just in case.