Off and On Again Merapi: Central Java, Indonesia

I do not very often classify inanimate objects but I am beginning to think that Gunung Merapi is female!. It is finicky and moody like a man and so I can only assume that Gunung Merapi is in fact a banci!.

On the weekend the authorities lowered the alert status from high to the lower level and people happily returned to their villages on the slopes. And yesterday a large eruption of searing hot gas and debris sent more than 1,000 villagers fleeing from the slopes of Indonesia's Gunung Merapi prompting authorities to raise the volcano's alert level to its highest status - once more.

The highest alert means thousands of people will have to be evacuated again. This is a great exercise in time and motion!. It reminds me of that old adage - 'I don't know whether I'm coming or going'.
Apparently clouds of hot ash travelled 3 kilometres down the slopes on the Magelang side sending everyone into another panic. The volcano also threw up massive heat clouds for a half an hour over a maximum distance of seven kilometres towards the Gendol River in the Yogyakarta district of Sleman.