Morning scenes at Mt Merapi volcano which threatens eruption

Описание: (14 May 2006)
1. Various of volcano with massive clouds of smoke
2. Various of tent in camp for evacuees
3. Various of evacuees
4. SOUNDBITE (Indonesian): Sri Rahayu, evacuee:
"I am bored here but I can not go back to my home because the authorities told us that the volcano is becoming dangerous"
5. SOUNDBITE (Indonesian): Budi Atmodjo, evacuee:
"If the volcano erupts, I hope it will erupt soon. If not, I hope everything is going to be fine."
6. Various of evacuees cooking
7. Various of evacuees eating
STORYLINE:
Indonesia's Mount Merapi continued to belch massive clouds of smoke on Sunday, as thousands of evacuees took shelter in makeshift camps.
Vulcanologists raised Mount Merapi's alert status to the highest level on Saturday after it began spewing burning ash and rock.
Women, children and the elderly were immediately shuttled by bus and trucks to emergency shelters, schools, government buildings and mosques in nearby villages in the densely populated Central Java province.
In one makeshift camp, women washed their children's clothes and prepared breakfast in a communal kitchen.
"I am bored here but I can not go back to my home because the authorities told us that the volcano is becoming dangerous", said evacuee, Sri Rahayu.
Some men refused to leave late on Saturday, saying they wanted to protect their homes, even as glowing magma from the volcano's cauldron lit up the clouds surrounding the peak, nearly 3,000 metres high, and as cascades of molten red stone tumbled down the mountainside.
Police manned roadblocks on Sunday preventing vehicles from getting within eight to 10 kilometres of the volcano's crater, but allowed villagers to return to tend to land and animals, advising them to leave again by nightfall.
Merapi, about 400 kilometres (250 miles) east of the capital, Jakarta, came back to life in recent weeks after years of relative inactivity.
On Saturday, experts recorded 27 volcanic tremors, said Dr. Ratdomo Purbo, who heads an observation post at Merapi.
Lava flows reached 1,500 metres (nearly a mile) down its slopes, he said, prompting hundreds to immediately leave their homes.
Officials had said as many as 7,000 people still needed to leave, but it was unclear exactly how many remained.
Merapi is one of at least 129 active volcanoes in Indonesia, part of the Pacific "Ring of Fire", a series of fault lines stretching from the Western Hemisphere through Japan and Southeast Asia.
It last erupted in 1994, sending out a searing cloud of gas that burned 60 people to death.
About 1,300 people were killed when it erupted in 1930.
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