Mount Merapi belched and groaned Monday, sending thick plumes of hot ash racing down its slopes, but an expert warned there remained the risk of more violent eruptions.
Volcanologist Antonius Ratdomopurbo said the biggest threat was from the collapse of the lava dome, which began forming late last month. If such a collapse was accompanied by pyroclastic flows of hot ash, volcanic gas and rocks spewed from the crater, it could devastate the surrounding area.
But he was reluctant to predict when, or even if, this scenario might occur, saying Merapi's eruption could be a gradual process rather than a sudden, violent one.
"The imminent danger might happen in a day, two days, a week or even more, no one knows," said Ratdomopurbo, who heads the Yogyakarta-based Volcano Technology Development and Education Body.
Hot clouds of ash have been belching from the volcano since its alert status was raised to the maximum level Saturday, meaning an eruption may be imminent.
The deadly clouds reached a distance of four kilometers from the crater Monday, compared to 2.5 kilometers Sunday. Similar clouds burned to death more than 50 people when Merapi erupted in 1994.
Ratdomopurbo said the volcano spewed out the lethal clouds 16 times from midnight to 6 a.m. Monday. The clouds, which can reach temperatures of 1,000 degrees Celsius at the crater and some 400 degrees Celsius by the time they reach nearby villages, might eventually travel as far as 10 kilometers from the crater.
He urged the evacuation of all residents living within eight kilometers of the crater, especially those living to the south, southeast and west of the volcano.
"We are calling for an evacuation because we're worried about the risks. The mountain is spewing out hot clouds of steam now, which means the risk is there, although we don't know when the new lava dome will collapse," he said.
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono plans a one-day visit to Merapi on Tuesday to check on the evacuation and preparations for a major eruption.
Many residents who had refused to evacuate Sunday were convinced to leave their homes Monday by the sight of the clouds coming down the slopes of the volcano and Merapi's ominous rumblings.
The sky above Dukun district was dark all Monday, not because of a threatening rainstorm but because of the ash spewing from the volcano.
In nearby villages, located some three to five kilometers from the crater, gray ash covered paddy fields and rooftops, turning the landscape white from a distance.
Some people, mostly men, however, are staying behind to watch their houses and tend their livestock.
One villager, Marsih, was still reluctant to take her son and their house Monday morning.
"If Merapi becomes dangerous, we'll leave," she told a police officer accompanying one of the trucks assisting in the evacuation.
But when she looked up at Merapi, a massive cloud of hot ash spewed from the crater. Without another word, the woman grabbed her son and jumped into the truck. Such clouds are known by the local term wedhus gembel, which literally means "shaggy sheep clouds", because of their resemblance to balls of wool as they tumble down the mountain.
"We can't talk residents into leaving, but then when they see the wedhus gembel with their own eyes they'll jump into the truck without having to be asked twice," said Brig. Riyanta, a police officer assisting in the evacuation.
-- With additional reporting by Blontank Poer in Yogyakarta.
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