Mount Merapi, Gunung Merapi (literally Fire Mountain in Indonesian and Javanese), is an active stratovolcano located on the border between Central Java and Special Region of Yogyakarta provinces, Indonesia. It is the most active volcano in Indonesia and has erupted regularly since 1548. It is located approximately 28 kilometres (17 mi) north of Yogyakarta city which has a population of 2.4 million, and thousands of people live on the flanks of the volcano, with villages as high as 1,700 metres (5,577 ft) above sea level.
Smoke can often be seen emerging from the mountaintop, and several eruptions have caused fatalities. Pyroclastic flow from a large explosion killed 27 people on 22 November 1994, mostly in the town of Muntilan, west of the volcano. Another large eruption occurred in 2006, shortly before the Yogyakarta earthquake. In light of the hazards that Merapi poses to populated areas, it has been designated as one of the Decade Volcanoes.
On 20 October 2010, the Indonesian government raised the alert for Mount Merapi to its highest level and warned villagers in threatened areas to move to safer ground. People living within the range of a 20 km (12 mi) zone were told to evacuate. Officials said[who?] about 500 volcanic earthquakes had been recorded on the mountain over the weekend of 23–24 October[vague], and that the magma had risen to about 1 kilometre (3,300 ft) below the surface due to the seismic activity. On the afternoon of 25 October 2010, Mount Merapi erupted lava from its southern and southeastern slopes.
The mountain was still erupting on 30 November 2010, but due to lowered eruptive activity on 3 December 2010, the official alert status was reduced to level 3. The volcano is now 2,930 metres (9,613 ft) high, 38 metres (125 ft) lower than before the 2010 eruptions.
After a large eruption in 2010, the characteristic shape of Mount Merapi was changed. On 18 November 2013, Mount Merapi erupted smoke up to 2,000 metres (6,562 ft) high, one of its first major phreatic eruptions after the 2010 eruption. Researchers said that this eruption occurred due to the combined effect of hot volcanic gases and abundant rainfall. The most recent eruptions so far were on 3 March 2020, 27 March 2020, and 7 January 2021.
