In the air, the smoke spewed out of Mount Merapi in Indonesia produced spectacular images which hid the terrifying situation on the ground.

Mount Merapi claimed four more lives as it continued to spew deadly molten rocks into the air and covering Indonesians with as up to 20 miles away.


With the death toll climbing, soldiers and rescuers helped thousands of frightened of villagers flee the devastation that is Mount Merapi.

Indonesia, a vast archipelago of 235 million people, is prone to earthquakes and volcanoes because it sits along the Pacific 'Ring of Fire,' a horseshoe-shaped string of faults that lines the Pacific.



Mount Merapi is Indonesia's most active volcano and one of the most active in the world. Although Mount Merapi has erupted many times in the last century, but according to Surano, a geologist monitoring the Mount Merapi situation, fears the worst may yet to come. "It's never acted like this before. It looks like we may be entering an even worse stage," Surano said.