Volcano Shows Sign Of Eruption In Indonesia, air traffic consequenties ? Options

[galaxy]

If it will be an eruption such the Punatubo or mount St Helens , should it have any consequenties for air traffic ?

JAKARTA, May 14 (Xinhua) -- Evacuation of local residents living around Mount Merapi's slopes in Klaten district of Central Java, Indonesia, was underway Sunday as the 2,965-meter volcano was showing signs of eruption, a local official said.

A total of 2,877 villagers among the targeted 7,000 have been evacuated until Sunday. Some others still refused to be relocated.

"We cannot force them because they said they could not leave their animals and other properties behind. But we would eventually force them if the situation has been very critical," Suwandi, Klaten regional government official for social affairs, was quoted by Antara news agency as saying.

There are about 20,000 people living within the radius of 12 kmfrom the slopes.

The status of Mount Merapi was upgraded from alert to red alert, the highest level on Saturday as the volcano's eruption is seen asimminent.

Yogyakarta Governor Sultan Hamengku Buwono X, speaking in the Mount Merapi disaster mitigation center said that all people living in danger zones had to be evacuated.

Merapi, about 450 km southeast of Jakarta, is one of the 65 volcanoes listed as dangerous in Indonesia.

It has erupted several times, of which the most deadly one took place in 1930 killing 1,370 people. It also erupted in 1994, claiming the lives of at least 66 people.

[flyingfox]

Yikes thats scary considering i only just watched Krakatoa last week Hope it wont be as devastating as that though.

These volcanoes are deadly and shouldnt be messed with, those reluctant people should leave but it is hard as i understand i would be like that if i was in their shoes, sometimes standing strong as us humansd like to do makes us feel more powerful in some cases but really, Mother Nature is the Ultimate force and we simply just cannot defeat her.