Hardship among Indonesia´s volatile volcanoes by Zuzana Zelenakova

For most people it is hard to imagine what it is like to live in Indonesia with its numerous volatile volcanoes that erupt every now and then. Living on the edge kind of lifestyle, maybe? Definitely not the rock and roll way, though. Just think about it, the possibility of losing everything in a split of a second is ever present. Latest eruption in Indonesia, that of Mount Merapi on Nov 5, demonstrated once again the power of the earth. More than 300 people died and about 320,000 lost their homes. According to Surono, the head of Indonesia´s monitoring agency, to predict an eruption is not as difficult as to communicate the message to people and make them realize how ! dangerous the situation is and act accordingly. However, villagers living nearby or on the slopes of Mount Merapi have their own beliefs they follow and are convinced the mountain can be understood and tamed. Surono calls it “voodoo” a mixture of animism and Hinduism. "With Merapi, I must talk about nature and culture," he said. "This is not easy." 62-year-old Sedyo Wiyono, for example, believes that the mountain´s behaviour is the result of human failure and says the coexistence with it is no longer possible. "I think Mount Merapi is no longer friendly to those of us who were born and raised at its foot. Maybe it was our sins that made the volcano so angry," said Sedyo Wiyono whose son was of the victims of the latest eruption. Surono´s work was further complicated by a man called Maridjan, the keper of Merapi´s spirits, who often refused to evacuate and by his own example convinced others to stay as well. He died during one of the first blast! s of the volcano, about dozen bodies were found with him.
rel ated story (sgx18636): http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101121/ap_on_re_as/as_indonesia...

by Zuzana Zelenakova for Cantell TV (http://cantell.tv)

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