REIKI.

The cleaning process of the temple was conducted by conservation officials assisted by a number of army officials dispatched from Jakarta. Officials used traditional tools to clean the temple from the thick ten centimeters ash. Three methods of cleaning are being applied. The first process is by brushing carefully the entire temple from ash, vacumming and lastly the temple is rinsed gently by water.

Since Merapi first errupted on October 16th, the temple's entire surface has practically been covered by thick ash. It is not yet known the total loss due the temple being covered by ash. The cleaning process of the temple is expected to last for a month.

The search and rescue team together with the army's special forces or Kopasus and the Indonesian Red Cross continued its search for more victims. Yesterday ( 11/11 ) the team would have focused on search for more victims along the Gendol river and the team had combed the area all the way to Srunen in Glagahharjo village in Cangkringan. According to the search and rescue team chief of Merapi - Suseno, many victims have not yet been evacuated along the Gendol river. The focus of the search will be 300 meters from the Gendol river.

He added that the hot ash could be felt from a five kilometer radius and lasted more than two hours. Officials also noted that 38 storms of hot ash have occured during the past twenty four hours. A new lava dome could possible be building as a result of the eruption with a diameter of 50 centimeters replacing the lava dome that was created from the 2006 eruption.

Meantime Anak Krakatau mountain is still showing activity since this morning with 722 tremors. Head of the anak Krakatau monitoring post in Pasauran village in Banten, Anto Pambudi said that the ash could reach between 100 to 1 thousand 700 meters high. The office still strongly advises residents not to come closer to the mountain than a radius of two kilometers since the status of anak Krakatau was changed from level two. The mountain has sepwed rocks and also toxic gas.

Source : English News Sevice.

Officials at Sardjito and Panti Nugroho hospitals in the city of Yogyakarta, near the volcano, confirmed that 12 bodies had been brought in, while 40 injured people were treated. The Jakarta-based Vivanews.com news website confirmed that one of its reporters was among the dead. A 3-month-old baby was dead on the way to Muntilan Hospital in Magelang district, said an official who feared that the death toll could continue to rise. Vulcanologist Surono said three explosions were heard around 6 pm (1100 GMT), and Merapi spewed clouds of black smoke 1,500 metres into the sky.

The state-run Antara news agency reported that Merapi’s volcanic dust fell as far as Cilacap district, more than 100 kilometres west of the eruption. On Monday, authorities began moving children and elderly people to some 60 emergency shelters after scientists upgraded the alert status as lava flowing down the cone’s slopes reached 4.5 kilometres. Tents, blankets and plastic sheeting were distributed to dozens of evacuation points around Yogyakarta and Central Java provinces, said Arief Setyo Hadi, an official with the Indonesian Red Cross.

Officials estimated up to 40,000 people were living in the endangered areas. The 2,968-metre volcano last erupted in 2006, killing two people. Its most deadly eruption on record occurred in 1930, when 1,370 people were killed.At least 66 people were killed in a 1994 eruption.

Source : Baku-APA/Antara/Viva News/Metro TV.