COMMISSIONS: Waiting for the Sky to Fall

WAITING FOR THE SKY TO FALL 

For National Public Radio / NPR 

On November 4, 2010, Indonesia's youngest volcano, Mount Merapi, had its biggest eruption ever. The death toll from a combined two eruptions surpassed 200. More than a quarter of a million people evacuated their homes to stay in shelters in Yogyakarta. Many villagers face hardship without their cattle or fields to tend. 

On the south side of Mount Merapi, Indonesia's special forces Kopassus, together with search and rescue teams, comb the area, where there once was a river and several villages, looking for human remains 

At Yogyakarta's main hospital, volcano victims continue to die due to lack of sufficient medical care in the strained burn unit. Morticians stay busy preparing bodies for Islamic burial. 

A local vulcanologist estimated that Mount Merapi has erupted around 4.6 billion cubic feet of rocks, sand, dust and gas.