Friday, July 15, 2011

VOLCANO ERUPTS IN CENTRAL INDONESIA

INDONESIANS FLEE VOLCANO
ERUPTION ON MOUNT LOKON 
Jakarta (Indonesia) - An Indonesian volcano spit lava and smoke thousands of feet into the air early Friday, sending panicked residents fleeing down its slopes. There were no immediate reports of causalities.  The first eruption at Mount Lokon occurred at 10:46 p.m., said Brian Rulrone, a disaster management agency official. It was followed by a second powerful blast just after midnight and a third at 1:10 a.m. (See pictures of deadly volcano eruption in Indonesia.)  Darwis Sitinjak, another disaster official, told El Shinta radio from the scene that soldiers and police were helping rescuers evacuate about 500 people who live along the mountain’s fertile slopes.  They join 2,000 others who fled Wednesday after being warned to stay far from the 5,741-foot (1,750-meter) volcano, which has been on high alert for nearly a week, with small eruptions daily.

Indonesia, a vast archipelago of 235 million people, is prone to earthquakes and volcanoes because it sits along the Pacific “Ring of Fire,” a horseshoe-shaped string of faults that lines the Pacific Ocean.  Mount Lokon, in north Sulawesi province, is one of the country’s 129 active volcanos.  Its last major eruption in 1991 killed a Swiss hiker and forced thousands of people to flee their homes.  The eruption saw ash, sand and rocks thrown 1,500m (4,800ft) into the air, government volcanologist Kristianto was quoted as saying by the AFP news agency.  A 3.5-km (two mile) evacuation zone was established last weekend, within which around 28,000 people live, of whom 4,400 have been moved so far.  “There is no mass panic because the community has already been warned of the situation and we are continuing to evacuate people,” Kristianto added.

Mount Lokon, on Sulawesi, started erupting yesterday, according to reports.  Thousands of people on an Indonesian island have been forced to flee a fierce volcanic eruption.  There were no immediate reports of casualties.  The last month has seen a significant rise in volcanic activity in the area, but the alert status was raised to the highest level just days ago.  This material world is place of suffering (Dukhalya) and everyone is suffering due to one reason or other.  Suffering is inevitable as long as one  is spiritually unconscious and identifies with the mind and body.
WHAT DO THE VEDIC TEACHINGS TELL US?
Every human is in the grip of miseries, since they entered in the realm of time and mind and had lost the awareness of self. Hence they are confused that why are they in grip of miseries. One yearns to get rid of misery and immortalize the pleasure forever. And the greatest misery is death. This death hounds every living soul, but fewer are there who have immortalized the death but number is much larger of those for whom death is an inevitable misery. Death is a suffering. Suffering is inevitable as long as one identifies with the mind and body i.e. as long as one is spiritually unconscious. ... The cause is forgetfulness of our eternal relation with the Supreme Lord Sree Krishna and while remaining in such state indulging in various non-approved activities, lead to incremental suffering.

 
Śrī Bhakti Vichar Vishnu Mahārāja :
“Become Immortal” - Sree Chaitanya Gaudiya Math
http://www.sreecgmath.org/scgmtimes/scgmtimes.php
http://www.speakingtree.in/public/1q5l5exz1dvhyfzmmc4e5k5wc/blog/Become-Immortal

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