Merapi on the verge of erupting?

Philippe ZELLER

Ambassadeur de France en Indonésie

prie

Madame Caroline HENDEL

de lui faire l’honneur de venir à

une conférence intitulée

« Volcan et Société en Indonésie, gestion des risques »,

le jeudi 30 septembre 2010 à 18h30 à la Résidence de France

Tenue de ville/ Batik                                       R.S.V.P.

1, Jl. Sinabung – Kebayoran Baru                 Tél. : 23 55 76 44/11/00

Jakarta Selatan

And then there was me, feeling important ;).

The conference was really interesting and I thought I should write about it before I forget important data. Attached to the post is a map of the important volcanos in Indonesia. Currently there are 125 active volcanos (including the under-water ones)! Volcanos are in deed a big part of the Indonesian culture and are often both sacred and feared. 

The subject is all the more important that rumors has it that the Merapi is about to erupt; mount Merapi is located near the city of Yogyakarta (an hour away from Jakarta) and is known to erupt every 4 years. Last eruption was in 2006. It's 2010, I'll let you do the math. Mount Merapi eruption are particularly known for the 1994 eruptions that killed 74 people following the wide spreak of CO2 hot gaz. 

Speaking of fatalities, the second part of the conference highlighted the importance and difficulties related to the arrangement for the evacuation of people living around volcanos. Scientist often come against a wall when facing very religious/spiritual populations that refuse to believe scientific data. 

Finally to put things into perspective : the number of fatalities in Indonesia related to volcanoes ever recorded is less than the number of victims recorded in one day following the 2004 Tsunami.

I'm definitely loving this country more and more.

C-