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U.S. Scientists Help Indonesia with Mount Merapi Volcano Crisis

Federal program provides expertise, equipment to deal with volcanoes

A team of U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) scientists from the Cascades Volcano Observatory (CVO) in Washington has spent three weeks in Indonesia, working with the government there to evaluate the threat of volcanic eruptions.

Their work included Mount Merapi in central Java, a 9,800-foot peak considered the most dangerous of Indonesia's 129 active volcanoes because of the large nearby population, a frequency of severe eruptions, and increased activity in past weeks.

Mount Merapi´s threat is magnified because it is near Yogyakarta, home to more than 1 million people, and located less than 20 miles from the volcano's summit, according to a May 17 USGS press release.

More than 100,000 people also live within hazardous zones on the flanks of the volcano. During the past 12 years, Mount Merapi erupted six times.

Mount Merapi began showing signs of new unrest in summer 2005, with an increase in seismic activity that prompted the Merapi Volcano Observatory to conduct volcano hazard education programs in villages on the volcano's flanks.

The USGS team was en route to North Sulawesi to help Indonesian colleagues design a new volcano observatory as part of the Volcano Disaster Assistance Program (VDAP), when the U.S. embassy and the Indonesian Center for Volcanology and Geologic Hazard Mitigation asked them to help with the developing crisis at Mount Merapi.

VDAP is a federal initiative jointly funded by the USGS and U.S. Agency for International Development Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance. The program's goal is to prevent volcanic disasters by providing expertise and equipment to other nations as they deal with hazardous volcanoes.

The VDAP team installed a computerized seismic data-processing system, provided access to satellite data and camera equipment for monitoring growth of the lava dome, and consulted on the extent of the hazards and the probabilities of eruptions of different types and impacts.

The CVO team arrived in Indonesia April 20 and returned to the United States May 10. They were joined by USGS emeritus volcanologist Chris Newhall, who remains on scene at the volcano observatory in Yogyakarta.

Source: U.S. Department of State