Warning of “global devastation”.. What will happen if the “great eruption” of the “Merapi” volcano occurs?

The researchers pointed out that the eruption of this volcano may cause the collapse of the global economy, the impact on temperatures, and the global food shortage.

Background Information

• Merapi is a volcanic mountain located on the border between the provinces of Central Java and Yogyakarta in Indonesia, about 1,817 km from the Strait of Malacca.
• The Strait of Malacca is a waterway in Southeast Asia, between Peninsular Malaysia and the Indonesian island of Sumatra, and 90,000 ships travel through it annually, carrying grain, crude oil and various types of commodities.

What will happen if the volcano erupts?

The team at the University of Cambridge released a report detailing possible scenarios for what would happen if Mount Merapi “wakes up”, including:

• The release of a cloud of ash at an altitude of about 34 km over the Malacca waterway, which serves 40 percent of world trade, in addition to covering the earth with a “volcanic winter” for a period of 3 years.
• A significant decrease in temperature will lead to global food shortages, inflation and climate disturbances, which will cost the world about $2.51 trillion.
• The ash cloud will travel kilometers away from the volcano to various airports across Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore, halting all aviation activities in an area that is one of the busiest airspaces in the world.
• This would stop tourism in all countries, which would mean a loss of billions of dollars, since tourism alone saves Indonesia $3.35 billion.

Sharp weather changes

• According to Cambridge University experts, average global temperatures will drop by 1 degree Celsius for up to 3 years.
• This will lead to severe climatic fluctuations, leading to a huge food shortage worldwide.
• Unpredictable rainfall patterns and unusually low summer temperatures cause massive damage to agricultural crops around the world.
• As a result, food prices will rise and global inflation will increase in the summer months of the second year.
• Technological progress will not keep pace with the crisis until the beginning of the third year after the eruption of the volcano, to help restore the balance between supply and demand for food in the world.

the effects of previous revolutions

• While Mount Merapi is currently dormant, it witnessed a devastating eruption in 1006, which wiped out the entire existing Hindu kingdom, which was living in central Java.
• The last major eruption of the volcano was in 2010, which sent a column of volcanic ash more than 2,000 feet above the crater and killed 353 people.

This region is very active volcanically, as there are many volcanic centers along the Indonesian archipelago, such as Mount Sinabung and Mount Toba in Sumatra, and Mount Merapi in Central Java.

Although nothing can be done to prevent natural disasters from reaching the Strait of Malacca, there are possible ways to send early warning systems and signals to warn people of an impending disaster.