Indonesia’s Mount Marapi volcano erupts again

May 19, 2012 – INDONESIA  – A report, published in the Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research, has unveiled recently that a volcano, namely Indonesia’s Mount Marapi, erupted early Friday at 7:15 a. m. local time, lasting for nearly ten minutes. It has been found that the volcano has had several such eruptions since when its alert status was updated last August. Also, the same has erupted for a total of around 454 times since the late eighteenth century till 2008. While a majority of these were minor eruptions, fifty of them were significant, last in the year 2005, found the team of researchers from Oregon State University. The erupted volcano is located in the province of West Sumatra, near the cities and town of Bukittinggi, Padang Panjang and Batusangkar in West Sumatra. As per the findings, the volcano is the most active one. It is being said that its eruptions had killed 300 people between October and November and had caused around 300,000 people to relocate as well. “Our study found some of the first evidence that the region has a much more explosive history than perhaps has been appreciated”, said Morgan Salisbury, lead author.  –French Tribune