Indonesia Orders 17,000 To Evacuate Area Around Merapi - AFP

[hatrack]

Indonesia's Vice President Yusuf Kalla on Thursday ordered authorities to begin evacuating some 17,000 people from around the slopes of rumbling Mount Merapi which has been spewing more lava and smoke.

Red-hot lava which had blazed a trail only 200 metres (yards) down Merapi's slopes by Wednesday had reached 1,500 metres down the southern slope, the office monitoring the volcano said in its daily report.

"I ask that immediate safety steps are taken, beginning by taking at least 50 percent of the total population from the danger zone down," he was quoted as saying by the state-run Antara news agency.

The vice president, who toured the volcano's slopes and met with ministers and local leaders there holding preparatory talks ahead of an anticipated eruption, said that about 34,000 people were in the current danger zone. "In Magelang, around 15,000 people should be evacuated in one or two days, while (the evacuation) is already progressing in Sleman," Kalla said, referring to the two districts the zone covers.

EDIT

http://www.terradaily.com/2006/060511093509.ehl23hj9.html

[CottonBear]

1. Perhaps Vice President Yusuf Kalla could help us fix FEMA.

He seems to have a real plan to deal with a looming natural disaster.