Harry Truman -–- and his 16 cats -– refused to leave home at the base of Mount St. Helens before the eruption. The 83-year-old operated a lucrative lodge on Spirit Lake. (May 10, 2000)
Posted on 10/17/2007 8:20:38 PM PDT by TigerLikesRooster
Indonesia on top alert for volcanic eruption
Thursday, October 18, 2007
By Heri Retnowati, Reuters
KEDIRI, Indonesia -- Fears of an imminent eruption prompted the evacuation of thousands of residents near Indonesia's Mount Kelud on Wednesday, but many flouted the order and stayed at their homes around the rumbling Javanese volcano.
The alert on the volcano, one of Indonesia's deadliest and located 90 km (55 miles) southwest of its second-largest city, Surabaya, was raised to maximum late on Tuesday, meaning it could erupt within 24 hours.
Authorities had ordered the evacuation of more than 100,000 people from a 10-km (6-mile) zone near the 1,731-meter (5,712-foot) volcano, a statement from the National Agency for Disaster Management said.
"The volcano is still on highest alert. I advise people to stay in the shelters and to be patient," Surono, head of Indonesia's Center for Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation, told Reuters. Another official said the number of volcanic quakes had dropped from up to 500 on Tuesday to 61 on Wednesday morning, but said that did not mean an eruption could be ruled out.
"In fact, it may erupt in two or three days after there are less quakes, because the volcano may be storing energy for a blow out," said Saut Simatupang, head of the vulcanological survey.
In Kampung Anyar, about 7 km from the crater and within a zone deemed by authorities as dangerous, many villagers were at home.
"It's not certain if Mount Kelud would ever go off. My parents and my siblings are at home at the moment. I'm going off to see some friends," said Marsudi, a resident in the village, who evacuated and then returned to his home.
"Whenever we're asked to evacuate, we will do so. But we came back simply because nothing happened."
Ping!
Cool winter coming up.
Al Gore should be sitting on top of this volcano protesting, when it pops it will spew enormous amounts of pollutants.
Just thinking about the folks on Mt. St. Helens who refused to evacuate before it blew.
Harry Truman -–- and his 16 cats -– refused to leave home at the base of Mount St. Helens before the eruption. The 83-year-old operated a lucrative lodge on Spirit Lake. (May 10, 2000)
Yes, I was thinking of him in particular. Sad.
I would be outta there - I always remember that feisty old man, Harry Truman, on Mt. St. Helens who had lived there for 50 years and wasn't about to leave. He figured he could weather it out and get rescued after, if need be, by helicopters.
His place was buried underneath 180 feet of ash, debris and 90 feet of water. He, himself, was probable vaporized.
My motto: Always respect Mother Nature.
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Tectonics: Can’t live with ‘em. Can’t live without ‘em.
Gotta remember these are poor people that probably have every asset they own in their house and the little farm plots around it, in a country with venal and corrupt police forces and military. They're fearful (likely for good reason) that if they evacuated their properties would be looted.
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Asia Pinglist. |
The wife and I visited Mt. St. Helens on our honeymoon in 2004. A person really cannot grasp the power involved in an eruption like that unless you see it for yourself. Trees 5' in diameter were snapped off like toothpicks about 20' above the ground and were blown uphill, thousands of them. There was a miner's car that they left as an exhibit at one of the turnoffs leading into the caldera area. It was completely flattened, as if it had been crushed in one of those car crushers. I was left stunned by what I saw.....
It’s Bush’s fault.
My husband and I were in Washington State in the late eighties. We had the opportunity to visit Mount St. Helens. It was an amazing trip, and wonderful to see that life could renew, and flourish, after such devastation. The film about it was something else, wasn’t it?
One of the most fantastic sights was to see the huge trees, with root systems still intact, that had made their way to the ocean and been rolled and tumbled and washed upon the beach. They had become huge, bleached out, mementos of that historical event. We had pictures made beside them to show the folks back home, but it was awesome to see it in person.
Interesting crater.
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