Photos: Merapi Volcano Ash Smothers Indonesian Villages

Volcano's Victims

Photograph by Ulet Ifansasti, Getty Images

Indonesian soldiers and volunteers carry the coffin of a victim of the Mount Merapi eruption during a mass burial in a village near Yogyakarta, Indonesia, on Thursday.

That same day the volcano erupted again, spewing plumes of hot ash. With most area villagers now evacuated, no new injuries were reported, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Meanwhile, some 800 miles (1,300 kilometers) away, the death toll in Indonesia's Mentawai Islands continues to mount. The tsunami that struck the area late Monday is now believed to have killed at least 370 people, and hundreds more remain missing, the Journal reported.

Published October 28, 2010

Merapi Rumbles On

Photograph by Ulet Ifansasti, Getty Images

Mount Merapi erupts with ash and hot gas again Wednesday in Indonesia, considered the most seismically active country in the world.

Indonesia's 17,500 islands sit along the Pacific Ring of Fire, a series of fault lines that stretches from the Pacific coasts of the Americas through Japan and into Southeast Asia. (See "Deadly Java Quake Highlights "Ring of Fire" Dangers.")

Published October 28, 2010

Ash Hits Home

Photograph by Slamet Riyadi, AP

Volcanic ash covers the inside of a house engulfed by lava flows on October 27.

Rescuers scoured the slopes of Mount Merapi, Indonesia's most volatile volcano, Wednesday after the island of Java was rocked by an eruption that spewed clouds of searing ash, according to the Associated Press.

The disaster killed at least 33 villagers, including an old man known as the mountain's spiritual gatekeeper.

Published October 28, 2010

No One Home

Photograph by Adek Berry, AFP/Getty Images

Mukiji, who lost his younger brother in the eruption of Indonesia's Mount Merapi volcano, looks at a damaged relative's house in the village of Kinahrejo on Thursday.

Not far away, Mbah Marijan, the octegenarian "spiritual guardian" of Mount Merapi was also found dead.

"Even after an eruption alert was issued and most villagers on the slopes of Java's Mount Merapi had been evacuated, 83-year old Mbah (grandfather)," stayed put, BBC News reported.

"His battle to tame one of Indonesia's most active volcanoes ended on Wednesday, when he was buried by the mountain's thick ash. He was reportedly found dead in a prayer position in his house, as rescuers also dug out more than two dozen more victims in the area—many who had also refused to leave," the BBC added.

Published October 28, 2010

Mountain Laid Bare

Photograph by Slamet Riyadi, AP

Like a scene from a horror movie, vegetation stripped bare by searing volcanic heat surrounds a damaged building covered in ash in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, on October 27.

The explosive eruption of Mount Merapi on Tuesday sent a fluid-like blast of hot gas and debris raging down the mountain's slopes. These so-called pyroclastic flows can move as fast as 656 feet (200 meters) a second.

Published October 28, 2010

Mosque Claimed by Merapi

Photograph by Adek Berry, AFP/Getty Images

Ash from Mount Merapi coats the inside of a mosque that was badly damaged by the recent volcanic eruption, as seen on October 28.

Indonesia, the world's fourth most populous nation, is 86 percent Muslim—making it the largest Islamic country.

Published October 28, 2010

Last Meal on Merapi?

Photograph by Beawiharta, Reuters

Volcanic ash fills a bowl of noodles and a drinking glass in the ruined home of Mbah Marijan, the Indonesian man known as the spiritual guardian of Mount Merapi, on October 27.

The 83-year-old Marijan was found dead in his home, covered in ash, even though people pleaded with him to flee the erupting volcano, according to local media reports. Thousands today attended his funeral and watched as he was buried next to his father, the previous gatekeeper of Merapi, the Jakarta Globe reported.

Published October 28, 2010