The volcano, located near the cities of Yogyakarta and Solo, is one of Indonesia’s most active volcanoes and a series of eruptions in 2010 killed more than 350 people.
Indonesia’s Volcano Observatory Notice for Aviation issued a red alert and said the ash cloud was moving north.
The international airport in Solo had been temporarily shut since 9.25 a.m local time (02:25 GMT), Indonesia’s Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) said. Four flights had been affected.
The local disaster mitigation agency warned people to keep out of a 3-km exclusion zone around Merapi.
“Outside a 3-km radius it’s still safe,” Biwara Yuswantana, the head of Yogyakarta’s disaster mitigation agency, told Reuters. The city is located about 30 km from the volcano.
The latest eruption, part of a series that started in 2018, sent up a column of ash that affected several neighboring areas, the country’s Geological Disaster Technology Research and Development Centre said in a statement.
It said the eruption lasted almost eight minutes and warned of a risk of further eruptions due to continuing movements of magma. The 2,930-metre (9612.86 ft) volcano is a popular site for tourists and its fertile soil is also farmed.
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