To villagers, active volcano is a friend, not an enemy (News Feature)

Oct 31, 2010, 7:41 GMT

Jakarta - The latest deadly eruptions of Mount Merapi on Java island have raised questions about the wisdom of living near one of the world's most dangerous volcanoes, but to many of the villagers on its slopes, leaving is not an option.

The volcano released clouds of searing gas and other volcanic debris on Tuesday, killing 36 people and covering entire neighbourhoods with grey ash.

Among those killed was Mbah Maridjan, the spiritual guardian of the volcano, who had refused to leave despite appeals from the government. He was revered by local residents as someone who had a supernatural connection with the volcano.

Despite the deaths, many villagers still refused to evacuate, and some who had moved to government-run emergency shelters returned during the day to work in their fields or feed their livestock in defiance of government warnings.

'It's very unfair to see Merapi as an enemy,' said Istiana, a 47-year-old resident of West Kaliurang village on the southern slope of the volcano, an area popular among tourists.

Istiana said villagers benefited from the fertile soil and tourism that Merapi brought, but there were certain rules that should not be broken by people living there.

'You take advantage of the mountain, the least you can do is respect it and not to make any damage,' she said.

Merapi holds an important place in Javanese mysticism.

Javanese shamans believe the volcano is guarded by spirits, and they make regular offerings on its slope to appease the perceived supernatural beings.

Maridjan, the sage who was killed in Tuesday's eruption, was appointed guardian of the volcano by the late Yogyakarta Sultan Hamengkubuwono IX to be responsible for leading ritual offerings.

His refusal to evacuate has invoked both praise for his devotion to his role and criticism for his superstitious beliefs.

Poniman, 59, from Umbulharjo village, said the deaths might have been prevented if a traditional ceremony had been held in time.

'We'd long planned to perform a ritual offering, which should have been done on Thursday,' he was quoted as saying by the Jakarta Globe newspaper.

'In such a ritual, we pray together that if the mountain does erupt, the lava and the hot clouds don't pass through our village.'

Deputy Public Works Minister Hermanto Dardak said Friday that the government was considering relocating residents living nearest to the peak of the volcano to prevent casualties in future eruptions.

But Yogyakarta Governor Sultan Hemengkubuwono said as long as people obeyed the government's order to evacuate the 10-kilometre danger zone when the volcano was on its highest alert, they should be safe.

'There would be no problem if people were willing to go down and stay in emergency shelters,' he was quoted as saying by the state Antara news agency.

After the latest eruptions on Saturday, soldiers forcibly removed some villagers who refused to leave the zone.

Some villagers argued that they were familiar with the behavior of the volcano and that there were specific signs to show them when an eruption is imminent.

Pujogiri Sulistyo, a Yogyakarta resident, said that local people never saw Merapi something as to fear.

'The mountain has provided us a good life,' he said. 'You plant anything - strawberry, tobacco - these plants can grow perfectly,' he said. 'We should be grateful instead of treating it as a threat.'

The 2,968-metre volcano is about 500 kilometres south-east of Jakarta. Its deadliest eruption on record occurred in 1930 when 1,370 people were killed. At least 66 people were killed in a 1994 eruption and two people were killed in 2006.

Indonesia has the highest density of volcanoes in the world with about 500 in the 5,000-kilometre-long archipelago nation. Nearly 130 are active, and 68 are listed as dangerous.

Read more about Indonesia Disasters