Indonesian Earthquake

OGYAKARTA, Indonesia — There are growing fears for children lost when there was a hurried exodus following a series of major eruptions from the most dangerous volcano, Mount Merapi (Mountain of Fire).

Over 300,000 people are living in temporary shelters after evacuating a 20-kilometre "danger zone" around Mount Merapi, which has been spewing ash and heat clouds since late October.

Its thought that tens of thousands of people fled their homes in the central island of Java after the massive eruption on Friday and many families were separated. Makbul Mubaruk, a coordinator for the volunteers said "We're concerned about children who are yet to be united with their parents,"  The volunteers  are trying to reunite separated families.Hundreds were still searching for family members.

Bodies are still being pulled out of the mess and sludge that is left after villages were incinerated by boiling hot gas and rock.  A total of 151 people have lost their lives since Merapi began erupting again on October 26 and the count is set to increase.

Although the intensity has decreased since yesterday, activity is still high and its status is still high alert Government volcanologist Surono said.

Dozens of active volcanoes make up the Indonesian archipelago as it straddles major tectonic fault lines between the Pacific and Indian oceans. This country is also dealing with the aftermath of a tsunami which smashed into villages on the remote Mentawai island chain, off the coast of western Sumatra, on October 25, killing over 400 people.

Ash from Merapi is keeping the local airport at Yogyakarta closed and obviously tourist sites also remain closed and the constantly grumbling volcano will shorten President Obama's already abbreviated homecoming - and this is clouding the island nation's hopes for a photo op tourism boost from today's twice-delayed visit.

All is not lost however, as the President told his hosts that he hopes to return to the country where he spent 4 years of his childhood, and bring his daughters Malia and Sasha too!!

A statue of the young US President Barack Obama, or

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