Volcano sends residents fleeing

MOUNT MERAPI, Indonesia – Frightened residents in a bustling city of 400,000 at the foot of Indonesia’s rumbling volcano headed out of town today, cramming onto trains and buses and even rented vehicles to seek refuge with family and friends far away.

Images of a mass burial for many of the 141 people killed in the last two weeks served as a reminder of the mountain’s furor.

“My parents have been calling … saying ‘You have to get out of there! You have to come home!’ ” said Linda Ervana, a 21-year-old history student who was waiting with friends at a train station in the university town of Yogyakara, 20 miles from Mount Merapi.

After failing to get tickets, they finally decided to rent a minibus with other classmates.

“It feels like that movie ‘2012,’ ” said her 22-year-old friend, Paulina Setin. “Like a disaster in a movie.”

The notoriously unpredictable mountain unleashed its most powerful eruption in a century Friday, sending hot clouds of gas, rocks and debris avalanching down its slopes at highway speeds, smothering entire villages and leaving a trail of charred corpses in its path.

Concerns over the risk posed by lingering ash prompted many international airlines to cancel flights to the capital, Jakarta, just days before President Barack Obama’s planned trip to Indonesia.

All were back in the air today, and White House officials said Obama was still scheduled to arrive Tuesday.

Mount Merapi, one of the world’s most active volcanoes, has erupted many times in the last century, killing more than 1,400. But Friday was the mountain’s deadliest day since 1930, with nearly 100 lives lost.

Islam mandates that the dead be buried quickly, so authorities gave relatives three days to identify loved ones. To speed up the process, many chose to have relatives interred in a mass grave – a common practice in Indonesia after a disaster.