Mount Merapi showed no signs of abating on Thursday, shooting clouds of hot ash 10 kilometers into the sky.

Volcanic activity on Thursday led authorities to recommend the evacuation of 32 villages near Merapi in four regencies in Central Java and Yogyakarta.
Seventeen of the villages are in Magelang, four in Klaten and three in Boyolali in Central Java. Eight villages are in Sleman, Yogyakarta.
“This is Merapi’s worst eruption in the last 100 years,” Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry geology chief R. Sukhyar, referring to the scale of activity and the size of the volcano’s exclusion zone.
He spoke at a press conference with Volcanology and Geological Disaster Mitigation Center (PVMBG) chief Surono and Yogyakarta Volcanic Technology Development and Research Center head Subandrio.
Sukhyar said Merapi was in critical condition, evinced by explosive outbursts which sent hot clouds 11 kilometers down its slopes.
In 1994, 60 people were killed when the volcano erupted. In 1930, when volcanic monitoring was in its infancy, another eruption claimed more than 1,300 lives. Forty-four people have perished since Merapi’s most recent eruption began on Oct. 26.
“It’s never acted like this before,” Surono said as quoted by AP. “It looks like we may be entering an even worse stage.”
Currently, all residents living within 12 kilometers of Mt. Merapi have been evacuated, after authorities expanded the volcano’s danger zone from 10 to 15 kilometers on Wednesday.
Sukhyar said magma was now forming 100 kilometers under the volcano and might trigger a larger eruption.
“Considering the danger from Merapi, we recommended that the 32 villages be emptied and residents evacuated to safe zones,” he said.
Thursday’s eruptions were accompanied by thundering sounds that could be heard up to 25 kilometers away.
Trees near Merapi were black with ash and the smell of sulfur was strong on Thursday. Rain on Wednesday carried volcanic effuse   to nearby rivers, leading to flooding at the Gendol, Kuning and Boyong Rivers on Thursday. Five houses, a bridge and pipes belonging to Sleman regency’s tap water company (PDAM) were swept away.

Several evacuation centers were closed on Thursday and residents relocated to safer areas.
Frequent moves have left some evacuees, mostly children, traumatized. Six-year-old Nely Agustin was now afraid to look at the volcano and always cried at night, said her mother, Sri Suprihatin.
Sri said her family had been moving from one shelter to another.
“First we took shelter at Umbulharjo, then at Wukirsari. Later, we were back at Umbulharjo and now we have to move again,” Sri said.
With the expansion of the danger zone, the number of evacuees has increased to more than 25,000 in Yogyakarta and 60,000 in Central Java.
The Central Java provincial administration said its Rp 21 billion (US$2.35 million) disaster fund might be expended sooner than expected.
“Funds for the disaster may run out in less than a month,” Central Java legislator Rukma Setia Budi told The Jakarta Post on Thursday.
The PVMBG recently raised the warning status for 19 other volcanoes to its second-highest level,
including Mount Papandayan, Mount Bromo and Mount Anak Krakatau.