People in the News, 2nd prize
Wrath of the Fire Mountain
Kemal Jufri
09 November, 2010
Mount Merapi, in Central Java, Indonesia, erupted in late October, blasting hot rock and volcanic ash a kilometer and a half into the air, in what was said to be its largest eruption since the 1870s.
Kemal Jufri
Kemal Jufri is based in Jakarta, Indonesia. He started his career in photography as a contract photographer for the Agence France Presse (AFP) Jakarta bureau in 1996. At the end ...
Muntilan, Java, Indonesia A layer of ash covers Muntilan, the main market town on Mount Merapi’s western slope. Mount Merapi, in Central Java, Indonesia, erupted in late October, blasting hot rock and volcanic ash a kilometer and a half into the air, in what was said to be its largest eruption since the 1870s. Days after the initial eruption came an even bigger blast, releasing pyroclastic flows – fast-moving currents of gas that can reach 1,000°C – which wiped out surrounding villages, even killing people outside the denoted danger zones. Merapi is one of the most active of over 100 volcanoes in the archipelago, but is known usually for non-explosive, slow eruptions. Over 350,000 people were evacuated from the area around Merapi, and 353 people were killed in a spate of volcanic activity that lasted over a month.
Photo credit:
Panos Pictures / Polaris Images
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