BLITAR, Indonesia (AFP) — The risk of eruption at an Indonesian volcano on Java island remains high but it appears no nearer blowing, residents and scientists said Sunday.
"There have been no significant changes compared to yesterday (Saturday). Nothing much happening except for some quakes," volcanologist Agus Budianto said of Mount Kelut in Indonesia's densely populated East Java province.
He said temperatures at the crater have remained stable but he warned that the risks of a sudden eruption remained high, as sensors continued to register increasing magmatic pressure within the volcano.
Five volcanic tremors and two tectonic earthquakes were registered in the area in the first six hours of Sunday, said another volcanologist, Umar, from a monitoring station 7.5 kilometres (4.5 miles) from the crater.
Local authorities on Sunday continued evacuations of people living within a 10-kilometre radius of the 1,731-metre (5,712-foot) peak.
"There are a total of some 90,000 people living on the slope of Kelut within radius of 10 kilometres from the crater. They are currently being evacuated," said Kamtono, a spokesman of the Blitar district authorities.
Kamtono said that temporary shelters have been set up at 37 locations outside the danger zone.
About 1,000 people in a hamlet seven kilometres from the peak refused to leave, saying the temporary shelters would not have everything they need.
"Why do we have to evacuate? Our daily needs would not be provided there. Whatever happens, we would rather remain here," said one man in his 50s who identified himself only as Jo.
Upstream more than 100 men continued taking stones and sand from a dry river-bed just five kilometres from the crater.
"This is our only livelihood and we do not have money. Whatever the risk, even if we risk losing our lives, we will have to continue to work for a living here," said one of the miners, Katimin, while piling sand for pickup by a truck later.
In a neighbouring district 40,000 people living within the immediate danger area have been told to leave.
"Not everyone has left yet because of various reasons, but we are continuing efforts to evacuate them," said Sigit Raharjo, the spokesman of the district.
"It has been the same in the past few days, lots of tremors but nothing else. Many people here are used to those tremors and do not feel the need to leave," said Gatot Subandi, the head of a disaster mitigation team in Nglegok, a sub-district of Blitar within the danger zone.
Geologists have said the eruption would comprise "heat clouds" consisting of searing gases and volcanic debris rushing down the slopes, similar to the most recent eruption in 1990 that left 34 dead.
Indonesia sits on the Pacific "Ring of Fire," where continental plates collide causing frequent seismic and volcanic activity. The archipelago nation is home to 129 active volcanoes, including 21 on Java.
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