This condition has been caused by the overflowing of the Putih river in Sirahan village after it was no longer able to absorb Mount Merapi volcanic materials.
As a result, the volcanic materials flowed over into access roads linking Sirahan village and other villages in Muntilan subdistrict.
At least 10 four-wheel vehicles, including three trucks, got stuck in the volcano`s cold lava materials overflowing into the roads.
Four excavators had been sent to the disaster area to clean up the access roads but only one was operable as the three others were broken and blanketed by Mount Merapi` volcanic materials.
According to Sirahan village administrator, Wartono, the cold lava floods had inundated a number of hamlets in Sirahan village, such as Salakan, Jetis, Glagah, Sirahan, Gemampang, Gebayan, Tempelan, and Trayembendo.
Several hundred houses were hit by Mount Merapi cold lava floods which also carried rocks and sand, he said.
Seven of the ill-fated houses were totally destroyed. As a result, their owners - Budi Sunaryo, Supeni, Harjo Sugi, Harjo Samini, Waluyo, Tri Cahyo, and Tomi - had became homeless.
The cold lava floods also carried aaway a school building and damaged a community health center and Sirahan village`s convention hall, he said.
In Jumoyo village, 128 houses in two hamlets were also destroyed or damaged by the floods, he said.
In response to this emergency situation, the Indonesian Red Cross (PMI) had deployed 20 rescue workers to evacuate the victims of Mount Merapi cold lava floods.
"The overflowing of the Putih and Pabelan rivers has brought mud and Mount Merapivolcanic materials into certain parts of Magelang district," PMI spokesman Arief Setyohadi said.
Mount Merapi had erupted repeatedly in the past two or three weeks but its most fatal eruptions occurred on October 26 and November 5, 2010.
As a result of the eruptions, at least 259 people had perished and many others sustained serious burns and became displaced.
Mount Merapi, on the border between two provinces, lies geographically close to Yogyakarta but is officially part of Central Java.
Besides killing and injuring several hundred people, eruptions had also damaged 867 hectares of forested land on the volcano`s slopes in Sleman District, Yogyakarta, with material losses estimated at Rp33 billion.
Mount Merapi is one of the most active volcanoes in Indonesia, whose eruptions have regularly been detected since 1548. (*)
Editor: Heru Purwanto
Copyright © ANTARA 2011
