5/16/2006: Merapi is angry

[Undertoad]

An active volcano gets you some of the most excellent images. Mount Merapi, Java, Indonesia, is threatening to massively erupt.



Today the mountain is blowing off the biggest plume of hot gas it's ever released, say the volcanologists. It's a coincidence because my girlfriend claimed I did that last weekend.



The smart villagers have bolted. But some others are fighting the battle the only way they know how: by giving offerings to the mountain. Here they've created a version of it in rice. Apparently the "food sculpture of mountain" theme from Close Encounters of the Third Kind is universal.



Wearing funny costumes and dancing may also help.



Apparently the dancers have to paint on a layer of sunburn and grizzled concern. Being next to an active volcano doesn't do that for them?



The villagers are tempted to stay because their crops have so much value to them. But their crops may not make it anyway. Ironically, it's the volcanic soil that creates a fertile medium for crops like coffee. The ash of hundreds of years ago is helpful... but the ash of 15 minutes ago is not.

So why would you live there in the first place?



Because normally it looks like this.

Before this threat, Merapi has had smaller eruptions but nothing massively major since 1930.