Endah, a living witness to the ferocity of Merapi\'s hot clouds, has reminded people to promptly evacuate the area if Merapi showed signs of an eruption.
By
Lucky Pransiska
·5 minutes read
Endah Fri Utami took refuge several times during the eruption of Mount Merapi. However, until she was 16 years old in 2010, she had not been aware that the hot clouds of Merapi could have reached her home at Bronggang hamlet, Argomulyo village, Cangkringan district, Sleman.
When Mount Merapi, which is located on the border of Central Java and Yogyakarta, erupted in 2006, Endah and her family fled to take refuge at SMP 1 Kalasan state junior high school, which is 12.7 kilometers from their house. Endah\'s hamlet is about 13 kilometers to the southeast from the mountain’s crater.
Like the previous eruption, the hot clouds of Merapi, which had a temperature of 500 degrees Celsius, did not get to their neighborhood. The hot clouds were still heading through what appeared to the “traditional route” to the west, to the Krasak and Boyong River. The Bronggang Hamlet is located on the Gendol riverbank on the southeast side.
The Geger Boyo lava dome collapsed during the June 4, 2006, eruptions, which allowed a 4-kilometer long column of hot clouds to be gliding southeast toward the Gendol River. Another shot of large hot clouds occurred 10 days later, reaching 7.5 kilometers.
The collapse of Geger Boyo – the lava dome that used to hold back the cloud bursts – apparently increased the threat of eruptions on those who lived in the south and southeast of Merapi, but the residents did not realize it.
Endah\'s father, Sobari, was never aware that a Merapi eruption could reach their home. Sobari had moved to Bronggang in 1980 after getting married to Endang Sriwidiastuti, who was a native of the village.
Endah never heard from her extended families about the Merapi eruptions ever reaching their village. Neither had she experienced one herself.
Stories about Merapi had been dominated by recounts of the mountain slopes being fertilized mineral-rich lands with dairy farming areas.
Four years after the last eruption, the volcano roared again, this time appearing to interfere with the family’s destiny. Following the raising of Merapi\'s status to “alert” level on Oct. 25, 2010, Endah and her family left their home but came back a few days later, with them believing they knew more about the volcano.
However, less than two weeks afterwards (5/11/2010), hot clouds hit the village.
“At midnight, nobody in the house was asleep yet, suddenly, from outside, there was a knock on the door with a voice shouting for help. My mother rushed to open the door. Just as the door opened, my mother and the guest were thrown into the kitchen," Endah recalled in an interview on Wednesday (19/5/2021).
Her mother was swept away by a hurricane of hot clouds. Extremely hot gas filled up the house. Endah ran to her room but could not escape the hot gust. Her entire body went numb because of the burns.
Sobari rushed out for help. In the dark of the night after the rain, he trudged along a river bank on the west side of the house, but his legs could only endure for a kilometer and half. At a field, he could no longer stand and broke down. Help arrived 25 minutes later. It had taken between two and three hours for the volunteers to reach and rescue the villagers.
Endah underwent treatment for burns on her whole body in the emergency room of Dr Sardjito Hospital in Yogyakarta. She had almost all of her right toes amputated. She was not able to walk. She found out that her mother and two elder brothers had not survived the fatal burns and the serious impact from inhaling the hot gas.
“Under hospital treatment, I could have had the medical aid removed if my father had not opposed it, believing that I could still live on. That has made me spirited because I was given a second chance of life,” Endah said with a sigh.
The ordeal 11 years ago is behind her. Now, Endah, 27, is married with two children.
No written records
As the case of Endah and her family showed, the villagers never faced a volcanic catastrophe until 2010.
The big eruption of Merapi in 2010 was caused by the collapse of the Geger Boyo lava dome during the 2006 eruptions, according to A. “Purbo” Ratdomopurbo, an expert with the geological agency of the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry on Tuesday (25/5).
Around 1904, said Purbo, volcanic material from a Merapi eruption headed east.
"But no one remembers. Maybe because we did not have a culture of written record yet. A hundred years later, it erupted to the east again in 2006,” said Purbo, who in 2006 was the head of the Center for Research and Development of Volcanic Technology (BPPTK).
Don\'t underestimate orders. If there is an order to evacuate, then evacuate.
The 7.5 km hot clouds in 2006 buried two volunteers in the Kaliadem bunker, Sleman. Their bodies were recovered two days later.
"The bunker was not designed to anticipate hot cloud material," Joko Lelono, head of the Disaster Mitigation Section of BPBD Sleman, said on Tuesday (25/5/2021).
Endah, a living witness to the ferocity of Merapi\'s hot clouds, has reminded people to promptly evacuate the area if Merapi showed signs of an eruption.
“Disasters can come at any time. Residents in KRB [disaster-prone areas] III must be vigilant. Don\'t underestimate orders. If there is an order to evacuate, then evacuate," Endah said. (ART)