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Lava flows from the crater of Mount Merapi late last night. Binsar Bakkara/AP/Press Association Images
Indonesia

Evacuations as volcano erupts again in Indonesia

Refugees flee latest eruption as lava glows in crater of Mount Merapi.

THE INDONESIAN VOLCANO Mount Merapi has erupted again, causing emergency services to evaucate more people from the area.

An estimated 75,000 people have been evacuated since the volcano’s first eruption last week, the BBC reports.

There have been no reports of casualties, but this latest eruption is believed to have been even more powerful than any of last weeks’, in which 36 people were killed.

One relief worker said that hundreds of people fled from a refugee shelter 10km from Mount Merapi’s peak when they saw the latest expulsion of lava and hot ash, the AFP reports.

The previous exclusion zone of 10km around the volcano has now been extended to 15km.

Local officials told the BBC that aid funding for refugees is expected to run out within the next five days unless a national disaster is declared. Civil servants working in one of the areas affected by the volcanic eruptions are facing pay cuts as a contribution to refugee accommodation.

[caption id="attachment_42390" align="alignnone" width="511" caption="Villagers flee their homes on motorcycles following another eruption of Mount Merapi on 3 November, 2010. (AP Photo/Irwin Fedriansyah)"][/caption]