2010 attack on Pakistan ambassador to Iran
According to the Iranian news sources and police investigations, the attacker was a 21-year-old "Afghan citizen" with whom the ambassador were involved in some altercation. According to the Pakistani news media, the ambassador was in the hospital sustained minimal injuries. Abbasi has been a banker prior to his appointment to this diplomatic assignment. The Iranian Students' News Agency (ISNA) also reported that the "ambassador was on his way he had a clash with an attacker, he was injured on the head and fell. The attacker was arrested by the Iranian police and Tehran prosecutor-general told IRNA news agency that: "during the interrogation, the accused said he wanted to mug the ambassador." After a check-up at the local hospital, the ambassador was discharge from the hospital on May 13, 2010.


2010 attacks against places of worship in Malaysia
Attacks against places of worship in Malaysia were carried out in January 2010 in response to Malaysia v. The Herald, a controversial court decision holding government regulations prohibiting non-Muslim publications from using the word 'Allah' to be unconstitutional. The government and many religious leaders condemned the attacks and called for calm and unity among Malaysians. The police are conducting investigations into the attacks and several arrests and prosecutions have been made.


2010 attacks against places of worship in Malaysia, Attacks
A total of 10 churches and few mosques have been attacked or vandalised since 31 December 2009 decision in Malaysia vs. The Herald. Only one church has been seriously damaged and no deaths or major injuries have been reported.


2010 attacks against places of worship in Malaysia, Attacks
Three churches in Kuala Lumpur were subject to an arson attack. One suffered considerable damage; witnesses saw two individuals throwing "something looking like a petrol bomb". As a result, the police stepped up security at all churches.


2010 attacks against places of worship in Malaysia, Attacks
On 8 January 2010, preparations for another attack were found at the Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in Jalan Othman which is located about 1.5 km from the Assumption Church in Jalan Templer. In the early morning of Sunday, 10 January 2010, the All Saints' Church at Taiping and a Catholic Convent school were shocked with the discovery of Molotov cocktails near church grounds. Black paint was thrown at the Malacca Baptist Church in Durian Daun.


2010 attacks against places of worship in Malaysia, Attacks
Sunday worship at targeted churches went on smoothly just a few days after the attacks. The Metro Tabernacle Church, which was badly damaged in the attack on 8 January, held services at the Wisma MCA’s Dewan San Choon and churchgoers were said to be, "somber but joyful." Roughly 1,700 members of the Protestant church packed the hall for joint Mandarin and English services.


2010 attacks against places of worship in Malaysia, Attacks
Apart from Christian churches, a Muslim surau in Klang, Selangor and a Sikh gurdwara in Sentul, Kuala Lumpur were also attacked on 10 January 2010 and 12 January 2010 respectively. In a later incident, a rum bottle was thrown into the compound of a mosque in Sarawak on 16 January 2010.


2010 attacks against places of worship in Malaysia, Attacks
While authorities have denied any links to these attacks with the spate of church attacks, Sikhs also use the term Allah to describe God in the Punjabi language and the Malaysian Gurdwaras Council unsuccessfully sought to be a party to the Malaysia v. The Herald.


2010 attacks against places of worship in Malaysia, Political response
All major political parties in Malaysia consisting of the ruling Barisan Nasional coalition and the opposition Pakatan Rakyat parties, including the Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS), who labelled the attacks as contradicting the teachings of Islam have united in condemnation of these attacks.


2010 attacks against places of worship in Malaysia, Political response, Government reaction
Prime Minister Najib condemned the church bombings, directed police to increase security at all places of worship, and called for unity amongst the Malaysian people. The government will hold inter-faith dialogues including prominent religious leaders to find "common denominators of understanding." Tan Sri Dr Koh Tsu Koon, Minister in the Prime Minister's Department, said the government has already met separately with religious groups.


2010 attacks against places of worship in Malaysia, Political response, Government reaction
Najib visited the church most badly damaged in the attacks, the Protestant Metro Tabernacle church in Kuala Lumpur and promised a grant of RM500,000 to assist with reconstruction. CIMB Foundation donated an additional RM100,000 to the church.


2010 attacks against places of worship in Malaysia, Political response, Government reaction
The Malaysia Home Affairs Ministry met with over 60 foreign diplomats for a briefing to discuss the attacks and security issues on 11 January 2010. Secretary-General of the Malaysian Home Affairs Ministry, Mahmood Adam, emphasised that Malaysia is still a safe country and that daily life has not been significantly disrupted. "They wanted to know what the guarantees are that their safety and safety of others are ensured. Those are some of the issues raised but most importantly, they wanted to understand the situation here and we explained that Malaysia is totally different," the home minister said.


2010 attacks against places of worship in Malaysia, Political response, Opposition reaction
Opposition leader, Anwar Ibrahim of the Pakatan Rakyat coalition, stated that the UMNO-controlled newspaper Utusan Malaysia's "racist propaganda" over the Allah issue and "inflammatory rhetoric"  both contributed to the spate of arson attacks. and that the publication must be held responsible.


2010 attacks against places of worship in Malaysia, Political response, Opposition reaction
PKR vice-president Azmin Ali has claimed that at least four UMNO members were involved in the arson attack on the Metro Tabernacle church.


2010 attacks against places of worship in Malaysia, Political response, Local community and international reaction
The 2010 church attacks generated strong condemnation from Muslims and non-Muslims alike. Roughly 130 Muslim non-profit organisations and volunteer police officers have stepped forward to provide security for churches.


2010 attacks against places of worship in Malaysia, Police investigation
Police say that eight suspects have been arrested in connection to the arson committed at the Metro Tabernacle Church in Desa Melawati. The first suspect was arrested when seeking treatment for burns on his chest and arms at a hospital in Kuala Lumpur. Information obtained during this arrest led to the capture of seven other suspects.


2010 attacks against places of worship in Malaysia, Police investigation
The police and government officials have asked the public not to fan religious and ethnic tension by spreading rumours via the internet and text messages. Ismail said, "Please don't play the fool by posting fake information on the Internet through Facebook, blogs or via SMS. Please come to us if you have any information." Police are investigating posts on Facebook claiming to have witnessed the making of explosives used in the attacks. Police have warned that the claims may be a hoax. Deputy Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Ismail Omar says that the police are also investigating reports of seditious and racially inflammatory activity on blogs. The student responsible for at least some of the posts has been arrested and released on bail.


2010 attacks against places of worship in Malaysia, Prosecutions
Azuwan Shah, a Malaysia Muslim, was prosecuted for his alleged role in starting a fire at a Protestant church on 8 January 2010 but acquitted due to lack of evidence in July of the same year. Two witnesses said Azuwan was not at the church when the fire started.


2010 attacks against places of worship in Malaysia, Prosecutions
Two brothers, Raja Mohamad Faizal Raja Ibrahim, aged 24, and Raja Mohamad Idzham Raja Ibrahim, aged 22, also Muslim, were charged and convicted in the same attack. The pair were convicted of "mischief by fire" on 13 August 2010. Komathy Suppiah, a district court judge in Kuala Lumpur, presided over the trial. She called the attack "appalling and despicable" and told the brothers that their conduct, "...strikes at the very foundations and tenets of a civilised society." As of 17 August 2010 the brothers have not yet been sentenced but face a maximum penalty of twenty years in prison.


2010 budget of the municipal government of Toronto
Toronto's operating municipal budget for 2010 was approved by the Toronto City Council on April 15, 2010. The budget maintained city services, and increased the property tax by "1.8% on total tax base".


2010 cash for influence scandal
The 2010 cash for influence scandal was a political scandal in the United Kingdom. It was brought to public and widespread media attention by a March 2010 documentary by Dispatches in which a journalistic sting operation recorded and revealed Members of Parliament and the Lords offering to work for a fictitious political lobbying firm for fees of £3,000 to £5,000 per day.


2010 cash for influence scandal
As a result of the scandal, Labour MPs Patricia Hewitt, Geoff Hoon, Margaret Moran and Stephen Byers were all suspended from the party. Hoon, Byers and Richard Caborn later also received bans from Parliament.


2010 cash for influence scandal, Background
Twenty politicians were approached by the documentary: fifteen agreed to meet, ten arranged meetings, and of those ten, nine were secretly filmed. These nine included the Conservative MP, Sir John Butterfill and Labour Party MPs Stephen Byers, Patricia Hewitt, Geoff Hoon, Richard Caborn, Adam Ingram and Margaret Moran. The Labour members were all due to stand down at the next general election and all but Moran have been ministers, and many had served in the cabinet.


2010 cash for influence scandal, Background
Byers had been Transport Secretary (resigned 29 May 2002);Hoon Defence and then Transport Secretary (resigned 5 June 2009); Hewitt Health Secretary (resigned 27 June 2007); Caborn Minister for Sport (Resigned 28 June 2007) and Ingram was Minister of State for the Armed Forces (Resigned 29 June 2007). In 2009 after criticism surrounding her expense claims the Labour Party had barred Moran from standing again.


2010 cash for influence scandal, Background
Conservative MP Julie Kirkbride was one of the politicians approached by the fake agency established by the programme, but declined to assist them. It was reported that an unnamed Conservative MP did agree to work for the fake agency.


2010 cash for influence scandal, Background
The bogus firm was named Anderson Perry, after the Marxist historian Perry Anderson.


2010 cash for influence scandal, False interviews
Members of Parliament were invited to an interview by an undercover reporter claiming to be the director of a company hoping to influence policy. They were met and secretly recorded. The story was broken by The Sunday Times Insight team and followed up with the Dispatches documentary. Amongst the controversial comments made to the reporter were Geoff Hoon saying he wanted to make "some real money," Margaret Moran boasting she could call on a "girls' gang" of female ministers to help the fictitious company, and Stephen Byers describing himself as "sort of like a cab for hire."


2010 cash for influence scandal, False interviews, Byers' interview
Byers made claims of having influenced government policy in the past for money. He claimed to have spoken with Peter Mandelson and Lord Adonis in the past to influence outcomes for National Express and Tesco. Lord Adonis admitted having private discussions with Byers about it but denied that he had "come to any arrangement", and Mandelson said he remembered no such discussion or meeting.


2010 cash for influence scandal, False interviews, Byers' interview
Byers later withdrew his name for consideration by the fictitious lobbying company via email, claiming he had over-stated his role and wrote "I have not spoken to Andrew Adonis or Peter Mandelson about the matters I mentioned." When the story broke, National Express and Tesco also denied there was any truth in Byers' statements.


2010 cash for influence scandal, False interviews, Butterfill's Interview
Conservative MP Sir John Butterfill was also implicated and offered to lobby to benefit the fictitious company and use his political connections for a payment of £35000 a year. Butterfill was also seen on the programme saying that it was likely that he would be made a peer and go to the House of Lords, the following day the leader of the Conservative Party, David Cameron said, "I can tell you that is not going to happen."


2010 cash for influence scandal, False interviews, Hoon's Interview
Geoff Hoon was interviewed shortly after a trip to Washington where he had undertaken


2010 cash for influence scandal, Political response
Foreign Secretary David Miliband said he was "appalled" and Chancellor Alistair Darling said it was "ridiculous". Norman Baker, of the Liberal Democrats, will be referring the matter to the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards. The leader of the Opposition, David Cameron, described the matter as "shocking" and called for an inquiry. Stephen Byers referred himself to the parliamentary commissioner for standards.


2010 cash for influence scandal, Political response
On 22 March 2010 it was announced that Patricia Hewitt, Geoff Hoon, Margaret Moran and Stephen Byers had been suspended from the Parliamentary Labour Party. Geoff Hoon told the BBC that Gordon Brown had told him he would no longer be performing unpaid work with NATO on behalf of the government. Meanwhile, David Cameron launched a call for a full inquiry.


2010 cash for influence scandal, Political response
On 9 December 2010, Geoff Hoon along with Stephen Byers and Richard Caborn were banned from parliament, the Standards and Privileges Committee banned Geoff Hoon for a minimum five years as his was the most serious breach, whilst Byers received two years and Caborn six months.


2010 cash for influence scandal, Media response
The media was especially critical of Stephen Byers, who claimed to have lobbied for money in the past.


2010 conservatism-psychoticism correlation error
In psychologist Hans Eysenck's P–E–N (psychoticism, extraversion and neuroticism) model of personality, psychoticism is a trait which is typified by aggressiveness and interpersonal hostility. In 2010, a paper titled "The nature of the relationship between personality traits and political attitudes" claimed to find a strong positive correlation between conservatism and psychoticism. This error was repeated in subsequent papers by the same authors; however, around 2015, the authors acknowledged the correlation is actually negative rather than positive, and began issuing corrections. The study instead indicates a strong positive correlation between liberalism and psychoticism.


2010 conservatism-psychoticism correlation error, Background
Many studies have found significant correlations between personality traits and political attitudes. For example, conscientiousness appears to correlate with conservatism, and openness correlates with a liberal ideology. Some scholars have used these correlations to argue that differences in personality traits are a strong causal factor in determining what political attitudes people align themselves with; others have argued this is the wrong causal analysis. In this latter view, the correlation instead arises due to a third factor which causes both the statistical differences in personality traits and the statistical differences in political attitudes.


2010 conservatism-psychoticism correlation error, 2010 paper
In 2010, Brad Verhulst, Peter K. Hatemi, and Nicholas G. Martin published a paper in Personality and Individual Differences arguing for the "third factor" explanation. In the course of their analysis, they calculated various correlations between various personality traits and various political attitudes. Among these published calculations was a correlation of +0.5 between psychoticism and conservative religious attitudes and a correlation of +0.6 between psychoticism and conservative sexual attitudes. However, these two calculations, among others, were erroneous; the actual calculated correlations should have been negative. While the actual sign of the correlation was irrelevant to the 2010 paper's primary thesis, the error created difficulties for subsequent scientists exploring other facets of the correlation, for whom the direction of the correlation was relevant.


2010 conservatism-psychoticism correlation error, Subsequent events
Verhulst and Hatemi made the same mistake in a 2012 American Journal of Political Science (AJPS) publication that used a different set of data. By one count, this 2012 paper would later be cited 45 times.


2010 conservatism-psychoticism correlation error, Subsequent events
In 2012, Steven G. Ludeke, a Ph.D. psychology student, spotted that the direction of the claimed correlation in the 2010 and 2012 papers contradicted both prior research and common sense; a positive correlation would mean that compared to liberals, conservatives are more drug-friendly, care less about cleanliness, and disdain society’s strictures. Ludeke correctly hypothesized that the sign of the correlation was reversed. Ludeke's thesis advisor, Colin DeYoung, had met Hatemi before; DeYoung initiated correspondence with Hatemi on July 27, 2012 to report the error and to request access to the datasets.


2010 conservatism-psychoticism correlation error, Subsequent events
Hatemi disputed that an error occurred but initially seemed receptive to sharing the data. However, despite repeated attempts in 2012 and 2013, Ludeke and DeYoung were unable to gain access to the data of the 2010 and 2012 papers. In 2013, Hatemi and Verhulst submitted a paper to AJPS that contained the same mistaken sign-reversed correlation. Ludeke was one of the anonymous reviewers; Ludeke reiterated his criticism that the sign of the correlation was flipped. The paper was rejected by AJPS; however, in 2015, Hatemi and Verhulst published the paper in PLOS One, an open-data journal.


2010 conservatism-psychoticism correlation error, Subsequent events
Around 2015, Ludeke and DeYoung submitted a paper for publication to the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology (JPSP) debunking Hatemi and Verhulst's claim; Hatemi was chosen as a reviewer. According to Ludeke and DeYoung, this triggered Hatemi and Verhulst to "race" to submit corrections to all the journals that published the error. The JPSP and other journals then rejected the Ludeke and DeYoung paper, possibly in part because the corrections had already been issued.


2010 conservatism-psychoticism correlation error, Subsequent events
Following the corrections, some right-wing media outlets embraced the finding that liberalism correlates with psychoticism; the New York Post wrote that "Science says liberals, not conservatives, are psychotic". However, as New York Magazine pointed out, "psychoticism, in this case, doesn’t mean psychotic in the everyday sense of the word."


2010 conservatism-psychoticism correlation error, Subsequent events
In 2016, Ludeke and DeYoung published a less critical version of their paper in Personality and Individual Differences. Hatemi and Verhulst published a response, titled "Correcting Honest Errors Versus Incorrectly Portraying Them: Responding to Ludeke and Rasmussen", in the same journal. "Correcting" stated that "longstanding published literature... already identified a positive correlation between conservatism and Psychoticism"; however, three of the four non-book citations given by "Correcting" to support this claim explicitly reported a negative correlation.


2010 conservatism-psychoticism correlation error, Subsequent events
Hatemi and Verhulst ascribed the error to the specific codebook used for the project, which inverted the codes for statements that counted towards psychoticism and the statements that counted against psychoticism in the surveys. Verhulst stated he didn't know whether the error originated from the authors or from the group that conducted the surveys, saying "I don’t know where it happened, all I know is it happened. It’s our fault for not figuring it out before."


2010 cyberattacks on Myanmar
The 2010 cyberattacks on Myanmar (also known as Burma) were distributed denial-of-service attacks (DDoS) that began on 25 October,  occurring ahead of the 2010 Burmese general election, which is widely viewed as a sham election. This election was the first that Burma had had in 20 years. The attacks were significantly larger than attacks against Estonia and Georgia in 2007 and 2008 respectively. The attack followed a similar one on 1 February 2010, and also followed an incident of a total loss of connection to the internet the previous spring when a submarine communications cable was severed accidentally.


2010 cyberattacks on Myanmar, Attacks beginning 25 October 2010
Over the period of a week, a large-scale massive DDoS attack targeted Burma's main Internet provider, the Ministry of Post and Telecommunication. Successful attacks to this network interfered with the majority of all incoming and outgoing network traffic.


2010 cyberattacks on Myanmar, Attacks beginning 25 October 2010
The motivation for the attacks, and hence the culprits, were unclear, but there was significant speculation that blamed the Burmese government for a pre-emptive attack to disrupt Internet access just before the general elections. The ruling military junta, the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), was known for denying universal human rights such as freedom expression; the government's efforts to silence dissent are extended to cyberspace, and it has one of the most restrictive systems of Internet control in Asia. The fact that international observers and foreign journalists were not being allowed into the country to cover the polls raised suspicions that Burma's military authorities could have been trying to restrict the flow of information over the election period.


2010 cyberattacks on Myanmar, Technical details
A DDoS attack attempts to flood an information gateway with data exceeding its bandwidth. The "distributed" element of a Distributed Denial of Service means that it involves PCs spread all over the world. These enslaved computers, called "botnets," are usually home computers that have been hijacked and compromised by a virus. Botnets are usually rented out by cyber criminals for various purposes, which includes web attacks. They can be controlled from across the internet.


2010 cyberattacks on Myanmar, Technical details
The size of the October–November 2010 attacks increased daily from 0.5 to 10-15 Gbit/s, each daily attack lasting over eight hours (always during regular office hours), from computers across the globe. This was several hundred times more than enough to overwhelm the country's 45 Mbit/s T3 terrestrial and satellite links. Attacks on blogging websites in September were also on the order of Gbit/s.


2010 cyberattacks on Myanmar, Technical details
By comparison, the 2007 cyberattacks on Estonia were at most 90 Mbit/s, lasting between a minute to over 10 hours.


2010 cyberattacks on Myanmar, Cyberattacks in Burma prior to the 2010 election
This cyber attack notably followed a similar one on 1 February 2010, when the internet link service of Myanmar's Yatanarpon Teleport Company was struck, and also followed the incident of a total loss of connection to the internet the previous spring when a submarine communications cable was severed accidentally.


2010 cyberattacks on Myanmar, Cyberattacks in Burma prior to the 2010 election
Despite the heavy hand that the regime wields over cyberspace, information communication technologies (ICTs) have provided Burmese opposition groups the means to challenge the government by broadcasting their message to the world. There has been an ongoing battle between the liberation technologies and the authoritarian government. In 2000, Burmese political activists received numerous e-mails that contained viruses, which many believe were part of an organised campaign perpetrated by state agents. The first major example of a DDoS attack in Burma was in 2007, during the Saffron Revolution when Burmese activists managed to put videos and pictures of the demonstrations and government crackdown on the internet, at which time the government severed the internet connection for almost two weeks.


2010 cyberattacks on Myanmar, Cyberattacks in Burma prior to the 2010 election
Near the one-year anniversary of the Saffron Revolution, the websites of three main Burmese independent media organisations were attacked and effectively silenced. The Democratic Voice of Burma and The Irrawaddy were made inaccessible through a DDoS attack, and the website for Mizzima News was defaced. Through 2009 and 2010, attacks on Burmese opposition media sites continued periodically. The timing of these attacks and the nature of the websites being attacked indicate a political connection. Although the identity of the attackers remain unknown, it is widely believed that the government played a role.


2010 cyberattacks on Myanmar, Cyberattacks in Burma prior to the 2010 election
This belief is still held, because the Burmese government has consistently made efforts to control and censor the communications environment of the country. Also, the timing and co-ordination of these attacks being around the anniversary of the Saffron Revolution suggests that the motivation of them was to prevent the websites from commemorating the protests and possibly mobilising new political actions.


2010 cyberattacks on Myanmar, Cyberattacks in Burma prior to the 2010 election
In September 2010, coinciding with the third anniversary of the Saffron Revolution, the websites belonging to independent and opposition news sites and blogs were brought down by DDoS attacks similar to, but less powerful than, the ones that took place prior to the election. On 27 September 2010, DDoS was used specifically against two news websites in Burma: the Democratic Voice of Burma and The Irrawaddy Magazine. Both of these magazines were providers of independent coverage of current affairs in Burma. These attacks were believed to originate from the Burmese government, and with the election a month away,  media workers feared that this attack was a test run leading up to the election. In 2009, Burma ranked 171 out of 175 countries in the Reporters Without Borders (RSF) Press Freedom Index.


2010 e-Boks Danish Open
The 2010 e-Boks Sony Ericsson Open was the first edition of the tennis tournament e-Boks Danish Open, an International-level tournament on the 2010 WTA Tour. It took place on indoor hard courts in Farum, Denmark from August 2 to August 8, 2010. The Danish top player Caroline Wozniacki won the singles title.


2010 e-Boks Danish Open, WTA Entrants, Other entrants
The following players received wildcards into the singles main draw:


2010 e-Boks Danish Open, Champions, Doubles
Julia Görges /  Anna-Lena Grönefeld def. Vitalia Diatchenko /  Tatiana Poutchek, 6–4, 6–4


2010 e-Boks Danish Open – Doubles
1st-seeded German pair Julia Görges and Anna-Lena Grönefeld won in the final 6–4, 6–4, against Vitalia Diatchenko and Tatiana Poutchek.


2010 e-Boks Danish Open – Singles
The first seed and home favourite Caroline Wozniacki defeated Klára Zakopalová 6–2, 7–6(7–5) in the final.


2010 elections in India, Legislative Assembly elections
Bihar amidst states of India had elections for their legislative assemblies in 2010.


2010 elections in India, Legislative Assembly elections
The tenure of the Legislative Assembly of Bihar expired on 26 November. The Election Commission of India (ECI) decided on the dates of the polls.


2010 elections in India, Legislative Assembly elections, Bihar
The Janata Dal (United) was the largest party in the assembly after the 2005 election, and co-ruled with the Bharatiya Janata Party as part of the National Democratic Alliance. The incumbent chief minister was Nitish Kumar.


2010 end-of-year rugby union internationals
The 2010 end of year rugby tests, also known as the Autumn internationals in the northern hemisphere, saw Argentina, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa in a competitive tour of the northern hemisphere. Test matches were also arranged with the various Pacific island teams and other non-Tier 1 international sides. This period also marked the conclusion of the 2011 Rugby World Cup qualifying process, as well as the beginning of the European Nations Cup.


2010 end-of-year rugby union internationals
The series saw Ireland play their first Test matches at the Aviva Stadium, which replaces Lansdowne Road as the side's long-term home and ends the temporary arrangement with the Gaelic Athletic Association which allowed the team to play home matches at Croke Park. The series also marked the first time that two Southern Hemisphere nations simultaneously attempted Grand Slam tours of all four Home Nations, with both New Zealand and South Africa playing all four countries. The Springboks went 3–1 against the Home Nations, losing to Scotland, and also lost to the Barbarians, but the All Blacks were successful for the fourth time and third since 2005.


2010 end-of-year rugby union internationals
New Zealand entered the series on a winning streak of 15 Tests. The current record for "Tier 1" nations is 17, which they hold jointly with South Africa; the absolute record is 18, held by Lithuania. New Zealand's streak ended with a 26-24 loss to Australia in their opening game.


2010 end-of-year rugby union internationals
In all, 24 of the top 25 sides in the IRB World Rankings (as of 30 September 2010) played in the end-of-year series.


2010 end-of-year rugby union internationals, Matches
Touch judges:George Clancy (Ireland)Simon McDowell (Ireland)Television match official:Matt Goddard (Australia)


2010 end-of-year rugby union internationals, Matches
Touch judges:Stuart Dickinson (Australia)David Changleng (Scotland)Television match official:Giulio De Santis (Italy)


2010 end-of-year rugby union internationals, Matches
Touch judges:Chris Pollock (New Zealand)Peter Allan (Scotland)Television match official:Graham Hughes (England)


2010 end-of-year rugby union internationals, Matches
a.  Stephen Moore suffered a back spasm minutes before kick-off and was replaced in the starting line-up by Saia Fainga'a, hence why Fainga'a started the match wearing number 16. Huia Edmonds took Fainga'a's place on the bench and wore number 26.


2010 end-of-year rugby union internationals, Matches
Touch judges:Bryce Lawrence (New Zealand)Keith Brown (New Zealand)Television match official:Hugh Watkins (Wales)


2010 end-of-year rugby union internationals, Matches
Touch judges:Dudley Phillips (Ireland)Michael Black (Ireland)Television match official:Dermot Moloney (Ireland)


2010 end-of-year rugby union internationals, Matches
Touch judges:Wayne Barnes (England)Rob Debney (England)Television match official:David Matthews (England)


2010 end-of-year rugby union internationals, Matches
Touch judges:Romain Poite (France)Pascal Gauzere (France)Television match official:Daniel Gillet (France)


2010 end-of-year rugby union internationals, Matches
Touch judges:Christophe Berdos (France)Simon McDowell (Ireland)Television match official:Jim Yuille (Scotland)


2010 end-of-year rugby union internationals, Matches
Touch judges:Jérôme Garces (France)Neil Paterson (Scotland)Television match official:Geoff Warren (England)


2010 end-of-year rugby union internationals, Matches
Touch judges:Bryce Lawrence (New Zealand)Stuart Terheege (England)Television match official:Graham Hughes (England)


2010 end-of-year rugby union internationals, Matches
Touch judges:Nigel Owens (Wales)James Jones (Wales)Television match official:Carlo Damasco (Italy)


2010 end-of-year rugby union internationals, Matches
Touch judges:Wayne Barnes (England)Robin Goodliffe (England)Television match official:Giulio De Santis (Italy)


2010 end-of-year rugby union internationals, Matches
Touch judges:Alan Lewis (Ireland)David Wilkinson (Ireland)Television match official:Tony Redmond (Ireland)


2010 end-of-year rugby union internationals, Matches
Touch judges:Steve Walsh (Australia)Rob Debney (England)Television match official:Daniel Gillet (France)


2010 end-of-year rugby union internationals, Matches
Touch judges:Romain Poite (France)Tim Hayes (Wales)Television match official:Geoff Warren (England)


2010 end-of-year rugby union internationals, Matches
Touch judges:Alan Lewis (Ireland)Cobus Wessels (South Africa)Television match official:Giulio De Santis (Italy)


2010 end-of-year rugby union internationals, Matches
Touch judges:Alain Rolland (Ireland)Francisco Pastrana (Argentina)Television match official:Tony Redmond (Ireland)


2010 end-of-year rugby union internationals, Matches
Touch judges:Craig Joubert (South Africa)Carlo Damasco (Italy)Television match official:Hugh Watkins (Wales)


2010 end-of-year rugby union internationals, Matches
Touch judges:Nigel Owens (Wales)Andy Macpherson (Scotland)Television match official:Jim Yuille (Scotland)


2010 end-of-year rugby union internationals, Matches
Touch judges:Jérôme Garces (France)Frank Maciello (France)Television match official:Gilles Cogne (France)


2010 end-of-year rugby union internationals, Matches
Touch judges:Christophe Berdos (France)James Jones (Wales)Television match official:Graham Hughes (England)


2010 end-of-year rugby union internationals, Matches
Touch judges:Peter Fitzgibbon (Ireland)Simon Mcdowell (Ireland)Television match official:Iain Ramage (Scotland)


2010 end-of-year rugby union internationals, Matches
Touch judges:Marius Jonker (South Africa)Cobus Wessels (South Africa)Television match official:Tony Redmond (Ireland)


2010 end-of-year rugby union internationals, Matches
Touch judges:Jonathan Kaplan (South Africa)David Changleng (Scotland)Television match official:Giulio De Santis (Italy)


2010 end-of-year rugby union internationals, Matches
Touch judges:Wayne Barnes (England)Carlo Damasco (Italy)Television match official:Hugh Watkins (Wales)


2010 end-of-year rugby union internationals, Matches
Touch judges:Nigel Owens (Wales)Stuart Terheege (England)Television match official:Daniel Gillet (France)


2010 eruptions of Eyjafjallajökull
The 2010 eruptions of Eyjafjallajökull were a period of volcanic events at Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland which, although relatively small for volcanic eruptions, caused enormous disruption to air travel across western and northern Europe over an initial period of six days in April 2010. Additional localised disruption continued into May 2010, and eruptive activity persisted until June 2010. The eruption was declared officially over in October 2010, after 3 months of inactivity, when snow on the glacier did not melt. From 14–20 April, ash from the volcanic eruption covered large areas of Northern Europe. About 20 countries closed their airspace to commercial jet traffic and it affected approximately 10 million travellers.


2010 eruptions of Eyjafjallajökull
Seismic activity started at the end of 2009 and gradually increased in intensity until on 20 March 2010, a small eruption began, rated as a 1 on the Volcanic Explosivity Index.


2010 eruptions of Eyjafjallajökull
Beginning on 14 April 2010, the eruption entered a second phase and created an ash cloud that led to the closure of most of the European IFR airspace from 15 until 20 April 2010. Consequently, a very high proportion of flights within, to, and from Europe were cancelled, creating the highest level of air travel disruption since the Second World War.


2010 eruptions of Eyjafjallajökull
The second phase resulted in an estimated 250 million cubic metres (330,000,000 cu yd) (0.25 km3) of ejected tephra and an ash plume that rose to a height around 9 km (5.6 mi), which rates the explosive power of the eruption as a 4 on the Volcanic Explosivity Index. By 21 May 2010, the second eruption phase had subsided to the point that no further lava or ash was being produced.


2010 eruptions of Eyjafjallajökull
By the evening of 6 June 2010, a small, new crater had opened up on the west side of the main crater. Explosive activity from this new crater was observed with emission of small quantities of ash. Seismic data showed that the frequency and intensity of earth tremors still exceeded the levels observed before the eruption, therefore scientists at the Icelandic Meteorological Office (IMO) and the Institute of Earth Sciences, University of Iceland (IES) continued to monitor the volcano.


2010 eruptions of Eyjafjallajökull
In October 2010, Ármann Höskuldsson, a scientist at the University of Iceland Institute of Earth Sciences, stated that the eruption was officially over, although the area was still geothermally active and might erupt again.


2010 eruptions of Eyjafjallajökull, Background
Eyjafjallajökull (pronounced [ˈeiːjaˌfjatlaˌjœːkʏtl̥] (listen)) is one of Iceland's smaller ice caps located in the far south of the island. Situated to the north of Skógar and to the west of the larger ice cap Mýrdalsjökull, Eyjafjallajökull covers the caldera of a volcano 1,666 m (5,466 ft) high, which has erupted relatively frequently since the last ice age. The most recent major eruptions occurred in 920, 1612, and from 1821 to 1823. Previous eruptions of Eyjafjallajökull have been followed by eruptions at its larger neighbour, Katla. On 20 April 2010 Icelandic President Ólafur Grímsson said, "the time for Katla to erupt is coming close ... we [Iceland] have prepared ... it is high time for European governments and airline authorities all over the world to start planning for the eventual Katla eruption."


2010 eruptions of Eyjafjallajökull, Background
The volcanic events starting in March 2010 were considered to be a single eruption divided into phases. The first eruption phase ejected olivine basaltic andesite lava several hundred metres into the air in what is known as an effusive eruption. Ash ejection from this phase of the eruption was small, rising to no more than 4 km (2.5 mi) into the atmosphere.


2010 eruptions of Eyjafjallajökull, Background
On 14 April 2010, however, the eruption entered an explosive phase and ejected fine glass-rich ash to over 8 km (5.0 mi) into the atmosphere. The second phase was estimated to be a VEI 4 eruption, which was large, but not nearly the most powerful eruption possible by volcanic standards. By way of comparison, the Mount St. Helens eruption of 1980 was rated as 5 on the VEI, and the 1991 eruption of Mount Pinatubo was rated as a 6. This second phase erupted trachyandesite.


2010 eruptions of Eyjafjallajökull, Background
This volcanic activity so disruptive to air travel because of a combination of factors:


2010 eruptions of Eyjafjallajökull, Public observations
"Volcano tourism" quickly sprang up in the wake of the eruption, with local tour companies offering day trips to see the volcano. The Civil Protection Department of the Icelandic Police produced regular reports about access to the area, including a map of the restricted area around Eyjafjallajokull, from which the public was forbidden. Teams from the Icelandic Association for Search and Rescue were stationed at the eruption site as part of standard safety measures and to assist in enforcing access restrictions.


2010 eruptions of Eyjafjallajökull, Public observations
Vodafone and the Icelandic telecommunications company Míla installed webcams, giving views of the eruption from Valahnúkur, Hvolsvöllur, and Þórólfsfell. The view of the eruption from Þórólfsfel also includes a thermal imaging camera.


2010 eruptions of Eyjafjallajökull, Scientific observations
The London Volcanic Ash Advisory Centre (VAAC), part of the UK Met Office, was responsible for forecasting the presence of volcanic ash in the north-east Atlantic. All ash dispersion models for this geographic region were produced by the VAAC in London.


2010 eruptions of Eyjafjallajökull, Scientific observations
A study by the Icelandic Meteorological Office published in December 2009 indicated an increase in seismic activity around the Eyjafjallajökull area during the years 2006–2009. The study reported increased activity that occurred between June and August 2009 (200 events), compared to a total of about 250 earthquakes recorded between September 2006 and August 2009. It further indicated that the locations of most of the earthquakes in 2009 occurred between 8 to 12 km (5.0 to 7.5 mi) depth east of the volcano's top crater. At the end of December 2009, seismic activity began around the Eyjafjallajökull volcano area, with thousands of small earthquakes (mostly of magnitude 1–2 Mw), 7 to 10 km (4.3 to 6.2 mi) beneath the volcano.


2010 eruptions of Eyjafjallajökull, Scientific observations
The radar stations of the Meteorological Institute of Iceland did not detect any appreciable amount of volcanic ashfall during the first 24 hours of the eruption. However, during the night of 22 March, they reported some volcanic ash fall reaching the Fljótshlíð area (20 to 25 km (12 to 16 mi) north-west of the eruption's location) and Hvolsvöllur town (40 kilometres (25 mi) north-west of the eruption location) leaving vehicles with a fine, grey layer of volcanic ash.


2010 eruptions of Eyjafjallajökull, Scientific observations
At around 07:00 on 22 March, an explosion launched eruption columns as far as 4 km (2.5 mi) straight up into the air. This was the highest plume since the eruption started. On 23 March, a small vapour explosion took place, when hot magma came into contact with nearby snowdrifts, emitting a vapour plume which reached an altitude of 7 km (4.3 mi), and was detected on radar from the Meteorological Institute of Iceland. After that, many further vapour explosions occurred.


2010 eruptions of Eyjafjallajökull, Scientific observations
By 26 February 2010, the global positioning system (GPS) equipment used by the Iceland Meteorological Office at Þorvaldseyri farm in the Eyjafjöll area (around 15 km (9.3 mi) south-east of the location of the recent eruption) had shown 3 cm of displacement of the local crust in a southward direction, of which a 1-cm displacement had taken place within four days. (See the GPS Time Series page of the Nordic Volcanological Center's website for detailed information on the degree of movement detected in the Earth's crust in the Eyjafjallajökull locality.)


2010 eruptions of Eyjafjallajökull, Scientific observations
This unusual seismic activity, along with the rapid movement of the Earth's crust in the area, gave geophysicists evidence that magma was flowing from underneath the crust into Eyjafjallajökull's magma chamber and that pressure stemming from the process caused (in geophysical terms) the huge crustal displacement at Þorvaldseyri farm. The seismic activity continued to increase, and from 3 to 5 March, close to 3,000 earthquakes were measured having their epicentre at the volcano. Most of these were too small (magnitude 2) to be interpreted as precursors to an eruption, but some could be detected in nearby towns.


2010 eruptions of Eyjafjallajökull, Scientific observations
The grounding of European flights avoided about 3.44×108 kg of CO2 emissions per day, while the volcano emitted about 1.5×108 kg of CO2 per day.


2010 eruptions of Eyjafjallajökull, Phase 1: Effusive eruption
The first phase of the eruption lasted from 20 March to 12 April 2010 and was characterised by olivine basaltic andesite lava flowing from various eruptive vents on the flanks of the mountain.


2010 eruptions of Eyjafjallajökull, Phase 1: Effusive eruption, Evacuations
About 500 farmers and their families had to escape from the areas of Fljótshlíð, Eyjafjöll, and Landeyjar were evacuated overnight (including a group of 30 schoolchildren and their three teachers from Caistor Grammar School in England), and flights to and from Reykjavík and Keflavík International Airport were postponed, but on the evening of 21 March, domestic and international air traffic was allowed again.


2010 eruptions of Eyjafjallajökull, Phase 1: Effusive eruption, Evacuations
Inhabitants of the risk zone of Fljótshlíð, Eyjafjöll, and Landeyjar area were allowed to return to their farms and homes after an evening meeting with the Civil Protection Department on 22 March and the evacuation plan was temporarily dismissed. Instead, the police closed the road to Þórsmörk and the four-wheel-drive trail from Skógar village to the Fimmvörðuháls mountain pass, but these roads and trails were reopened on 29 March, though only for suitable four-wheel drive vehicles. When the second fissure appeared, the road was closed again because of the danger of flash floods, which could have developed if the fissure had opened near big ice caps or other snow reservoirs, but the road was again opened at around noon on 1 April.


2010 eruptions of Eyjafjallajökull, Phase 1: Effusive eruption, Effects on the river
On 22 March, a flow meter device in the Krossá glacial river (which drains Eyjafjallajökull and Mýrdalsjökull glaciers) in the Þórsmörk area (a few kilometres north-west of the erupting location) started to record a sudden rise in water level and water temperature – the total water temperature rose by 6 °C (11 °F) over a two-hour period, which had never happened so quickly in the Krossá river since measurements began. Shortly afterward, the water level returned to normal and water temperature decreased.


2010 eruptions of Eyjafjallajökull, Phase 1: Effusive eruption, Effects on the river
This rise in water temperature was thought to be related to the eruption nearby and was affecting part of the Krossá drainage basin. The temperature of Hruná river, which flows through the narrow Hrunárgil canyon, into which part of the lava stream was flowing, was recently recorded by geologists to be between 50 and 60 °C (122 and 140 °F), indicating that the river was cooling the lava in that canyon.


2010 eruptions of Eyjafjallajökull, Phase 1: Effusive eruption, Fissure
The first phase of the 2010 eruption began late on the evening of 20 March at the Eyjafjallajökull.


2010 eruptions of Eyjafjallajökull, Phase 1: Effusive eruption, Fissure
The initial visual report of the eruption was at 23:52 GMT, when a red cloud was seen at the north slopes of Fimmvörðuháls mountain pass, lighting up the sky above the eruptive site. The eruption was preceded by intense seismicity and high rates of deformation in the weeks before the eruption, in association with magma recharging of the volcano. Immediately before the eruption, the depth of the seismicity had become shallow, but was not significantly enhanced from what it had been in the previous weeks. Deformation was occurring at rates up to a centimetre a day since 4 March at various GPS sites installed within 12 km (7.5 mi) from the eruptive site.


2010 eruptions of Eyjafjallajökull, Phase 1: Effusive eruption, Fissure
A fissure opened up about 150 metres (490 ft) in length running in a north-east to south-west direction, with 10 to 12 erupting lava craters ejecting lava at a temperature around 1,000 °C (1,800 °F) up to 150 m (490 ft) into the air. The lava was alkali olivine basalt and was relatively viscous, causing the motion of the lava stream to the west and east of the fissure to be slow. The molten lava flowed more than 4,000 m (13,000 ft) to the north-east of the fissure and into Hrunagil canyon, forming a lava fall more than 200 m (660 ft) long and slowly approaching Þórsmörk, but had not yet reached the flood plains of Krossá.


2010 eruptions of Eyjafjallajökull, Phase 1: Effusive eruption, Fissure
On 25 March 2010, while studying the eruption, scientists witnessed, for the first time in history, the formation of a pseudocrater during a steam explosion. Crustal expansion continued at Þorvaldseyri for two days after the eruption began, but was slowly decreasing whilst the volcanic activity was increasing. This indicates that the rate at which magma was flowing into the magma chamber roughly equaled the rate at which it was being lost due to the eruption, giving evidence that this phase of volcanic activity reached equilibrium.


2010 eruptions of Eyjafjallajökull, Phase 1: Effusive eruption, Fissure
A new fissure opened on 31 March, around 200 m (660 ft) north-west of the original fissure. Many witnesses were present while the new fissure opened. It was a bit smaller, around 300 m (980 ft) long according to witnesses, and lava coming from it started to flow into Hvannárgil canyon. These two erupting fissures shared the same magma chamber, according to geophysicists. No unusual seismic activity was detected at the time the new fissure appeared, nor any crustal expansion according to many seismometers and GPS recorders situated in nearby areas.


2010 eruptions of Eyjafjallajökull, Phase 1: Effusive eruption, Fissure
Geophysicist Magnús Tumi Einarsson said (at a press meeting in Hvolsvöllur on 21 March) that this eruption was small compared to, for example, the eruption of Hekla in 2000. The eruption, rather than taking place under the ice cap of the glacier, occurred in the mountain pass between the Eyjafjallajökull and Mýrdalsjökull glaciers. As long as the fissure was not near the glacier, the risk of flooding was minimal; however, the fissure could extend into the ice cap, thereby greatly increasing the risk of flooding.


2010 eruptions of Eyjafjallajökull, Phase 2: Explosive eruption
After a short hiatus in eruptive activity, and a large increase in seismic activity 23:00 on 13 April and 1:00 on 14 April, a new set of craters opened early in the morning of 14 April 2010 under the volcano's ice-covered central summit caldera. The earthquake swarm was followed by the onset of a seismic eruption tremor. Meltwater started to emanate from the ice cap around 07:00 on 14 April and an eruption plume was observed in the early morning.


2010 eruptions of Eyjafjallajökull, Phase 2: Explosive eruption
Visual observations were greatly restricted due to cloud cover over the volcano, but an aeroplane of the Icelandic Coast Guard imaged eruptive craters with radar instruments. A series of vents along a 2-km-long north–south-oriented fissure was active, with meltwater flowing mostly down the northern slopes of the volcano, but also to the south. An ash-loaded eruption plume rose to more than 8 km (5.0 mi), deflected to the east by westerly winds.


2010 eruptions of Eyjafjallajökull, Phase 2: Explosive eruption, Ash analysis
Samples of volcanic ash collected near the eruption showed a silica concentration of 58%—much higher than in the lava flows. The concentration of water-soluble fluoride was one-third of the concentration typical in Hekla eruptions, with a mean value of 104 mg of fluoride per kg of ash. Agriculture is important in this region of Iceland, and farmers near the volcano have been warned not to let their livestock drink from contaminated streams and water sources, as high concentrations of fluoride can have deadly renal and hepatic effects, particularly in sheep.


2010 eruptions of Eyjafjallajökull, Phase 2: Explosive eruption, Impact on farming
The Icelandic Food and Veterinary Authority released an announcement on 18 April 2010, asking that all horse owners who keep their herds outside be on the alert for ash fall. Where ash fall was significant, all horses had to be sheltered indoors. The thick layer of ash that had fallen on some Icelandic pastures and farms at Raufarfell had become wet and compact, making it very difficult to continue farming, harvesting, or grazing livestock.


2010 eruptions of Eyjafjallajökull, Phase 2: Explosive eruption, Timeline of the second eruption phase
Unlike the earlier eruption phase, the second phase occurred beneath glacial ice. Cold water from melted ice quickly chilled the lava, causing it to fragment into highly abrasive glass particles that were then carried into the eruption plume. This, together with the magnitude of the eruption (estimated to be VEI 4) and being 10 to 20 times larger than the eruption of Fimmvörðuháls on 20 March, injected a glass-rich ash plume into the jet stream.


2010 eruptions of Eyjafjallajökull, Phase 2: Explosive eruption, Timeline of the second eruption phase
In addition to volcanic ash being very hazardous to aircraft, the location of this eruption directly under the jet stream ensured that the ash was carried into the heavily used airspace over northern and central Europe.


2010 eruptions of Eyjafjallajökull, Phase 3: Return to dormancy
By the morning of 24 May 2010, the view from the web camera installed on Þórólfsfell showed only a plume of water vapour surrounded by a bluish haze caused by emission of sulphurous gases. Due to the large quantities of dry volcanic ash lying on the ground, surface winds frequently lifted up an "ash mist" that significantly reduced visibility and made web camera observation of the volcano impossible.


2010 eruptions of Eyjafjallajökull, Phase 3: Return to dormancy
On 21 June 2010, data from seismic recorders in the area indicated that the frequency and strength of earth tremors had diminished, but were continuing.


2010 eruptions of Eyjafjallajökull, Phase 3: Return to dormancy
In October 2010, Ármann Höskuldsson, a scientist at the University of Iceland Institute of Earth Sciences, stated that the eruption was officially over, although the area was still geothermally active and might erupt again.


2010 eruptions of Eyjafjallajökull, Phase 3: Return to dormancy
During the eruption, the BBC television news announcers did not try to pronounce the name "Eyjafjallajökull," but called it "the Iceland volcano."


2010 eruptions of Eyjafjallajökull, Volume of erupted material and magma discharge
The Institute of Earth Sciences made a preliminary estimate of erupted material in the first three days of the eruption on 14 April 2010 at Eyjafjallajökull. The erupted products were fragmented material, the majority fine-grained airborne tephra. Eruptive products can be split into three categories along with preliminary estimated erupted volumes:


2010 eruptions of Eyjafjallajökull, Volume of erupted material and magma discharge
Total: 140 million cubic metres (180,000,000 cu yd) which corresponds to some 70–80 million cubic metres (92,000,000–105,000,000 cu yd) of magma. The magma discharge rate was about 300 cubic metres per second (11,000 cu ft/s) or 750 t/s. This was 10–20 times the average discharge rate in the preceding flank eruption at Fimmvörðuháls. (First eruption on 20 March 2010).


2010 eruptions of Eyjafjallajökull, Volume of erupted material and magma discharge
The IES updated the eruption flow rate on 21 April 2010 to an estimation less than 30 cubic metres per second (1,100 cu ft/s) of magma, or 75 tonnes/s, with a large uncertainty. IES also noted that the eruption continue with less explosive activity.


2010 eruptions of Eyjafjallajökull, Health effects
No human fatalities were reported from the 2010 eruption of Eyjafjallajökull. The people who lived near the volcano had high levels of irritation symptoms, though their lung function was not lower than expected. Six months later, the population living in the area had more respiratory symptoms than a control group from North Iceland, with no ashfall. In Scotland, the number of phone calls to health services for respiratory and eye irritation did not rise significantly.


2010 eruptions of Eyjafjallajökull, Effects of the ash plume on air travel
Volcanic ash is a major hazard to aircraft. Smoke and ash from eruptions reduce visibility for visual navigation, and microscopic debris in the ash can sandblast windscreens and melt in the heat of aircraft turbine engines, damaging engines and making them shut down. Many flights within, to, and from Europe were cancelled following 14 April 2010 eruption, and although no commercial aircraft were damaged, the engines of some military aircraft were harmed. The presence and location of the plume depends upon the state of the eruption and the winds.


2010 eruptions of Eyjafjallajökull, Effects of the ash plume on air travel
While some ash fell on uninhabited areas in Iceland, most had been carried by westerly winds resulting in the shutdown of large air space over Europe. The shutdown had a knock on impact on the economy and cultural events across Europe. The Icelandic flag carrier airline, Icelandair, seemed at first especially vulnerable, but managed to deal effectively with the eruption and subsequently published a detailed report about its actions and conclusions.


2010 eruptions of Eyjafjallajökull, Short- and long-term weather and environmental effects
At the mouth of the crater, the gases, ejecta, and volcanic plume have created a rare weather phenomenon known as volcanic lightning (or a "dirty thunderstorm"). When rocks and other ejecta collide with one another, they create static electricity. This, with the abundant water-ice at the summit, aids in making lightning.


2010 eruptions of Eyjafjallajökull, Short- and long-term weather and environmental effects
High-fluoride Hekla eruptions pose a threat to foraging livestock, especially sheep. Fluoride poisoning can start in sheep at a diet with fluorine content of 25 ppm. At 250 ppm, death can occur within a few days. In 1783, 79% of the Icelandic sheep stock were killed, probably as a result of fluorosis caused by the eruption of Laki. The effect also spread beyond Iceland. Ash from the current Eyjafjallajökull eruption contains one-third the concentration typical in Hekla eruptions, with a mean value of 104 mg of fluoride per kg of ash. Large-scale release of sulphur dioxide into the troposphere also poses a potential health risk, especially to people with pre-existing breathing disorders.


2010 eruptions of Eyjafjallajökull, Short- and long-term weather and environmental effects
As of 15 April, the eruption was not large enough to have an effect on global temperatures like that of Mount Pinatubo and other major past volcanic eruptions. One previous related sequence of eruptions of this volcano, beginning in 1821 is recorded as having lasted for over two years, but no single set of major eruptions is known to have lasted more than 'several days'.


2010 eruptions of Eyjafjallajökull, Comparison to past eruptions
The eruptions of Eyjafjallajökull and the largest ash plume associated with the second eruption phase were not unparalleled in either volume or abundance; however, the location was the critical factor because it affected air travel across Europe. Neither phase of the eruption was unusually powerful. Other notable volcanic eruptions include the eruption of Mount Pinatubo of 1991 of VEI 6.


2010 eruptions of Eyjafjallajökull, Comparison to past eruptions
This eruption lasted eight days, from 7 – 15 June of that year, with an ash cloud that would have required additional days to dissipate, and resulted in worldwide abnormal weather and decrease in global temperature over the next few years. However, the second phase of Eyjafjallajökull's eruption lasted longer than that of Mount Pinatubo.


2010 eruptions of Mount Merapi
In late October 2010, Mount Merapi in Central Java, Indonesia, began an increasingly violent series of eruptions that continued into November. Seismic activity around the volcano increased from mid-September onwards, culminating in repeated outbursts of lava and ashes. Large eruption columns formed, causing numerous pyroclastic flows down the heavily populated slopes of the volcano. Merapi's eruption was said by authorities to be the largest since the 1870s.


2010 eruptions of Mount Merapi
Over 350,000 people were evacuated from the affected area. However, many remained behind or returned to their homes while the eruptions were continuing. 353 people were killed during the eruptions, many as a result of pyroclastic flows. The ash plumes from the volcano also caused major disruption to aviation across Java.


2010 eruptions of Mount Merapi
The mountain continued to erupt until 30 November 2010. On 3 December 2010 the official alert status was reduced to level 3, from level 4, as the eruptive activity had subsided.


2010 eruptions of Mount Merapi, Volcanic Eruptions, Recent background
In late October 2010 the Volcanological Survey of Indonesia (PVMBG) reported that a pattern of increasing seismicity from Merapi had begun to emerge in early September. Observers at Babadan 7 kilometres (4.3 mi) west and Kaliurang 8 km (5.0 mi) south of the mountain reported hearing an avalanche on 12 September 2010. On 14 September 2010 white plumes were observed rising 800 metres (2,600 ft) above the crater.


2010 eruptions of Mount Merapi, Volcanic Eruptions, Recent background
Lava dome inflation, detected since March, increased from background levels of 0.1 to 0.3 millimetres (0.0039 to 0.012 in) per day to a rate of 11 mm (0.43 in) per day on 16 September. On 19 September 2010 earthquakes continued to be numerous, and the next day CVGHM raised the Alert Level to 2 (on a scale of 1–4). Lava from Mount Merapi began flowing down the Gendol River on 23–24 October signalling the likelihood of an imminent eruption.


2010 eruptions of Mount Merapi, Volcanic Eruptions, Recent background
On 25 October 2010 the Indonesian government raised the alert for Mount Merapi to its highest level (4) and warned villagers in threatened areas to move to safer ground. People living within a 10 km (6.2 mi) zone were told to evacuate. The evacuation orders affected at least 19,000 people however the number that complied at the time remained unclear to authorities. Officials said about 500 volcanic earthquakes had been recorded on the mountain over the weekend of 23–24 October, and that the magma had risen to about a 1 km (3,300 ft) below the surface due to the seismic activity.


2010 eruptions of Mount Merapi, Volcanic Eruptions, Chronology of eruptive events, Monday, 25 October
Merapi erupted three times on Monday afternoon spewing lava down its southern and south-eastern slopes. Three major eruptions were recorded at 14:04, 14:24 and 15:15 local time. On this day, 222 volcanic seismic events and 454 avalanche seismic events were recorded by Center for Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation monitoring staff at Merapi.


2010 eruptions of Mount Merapi, Volcanic Eruptions, Chronology of eruptive events, Tuesday, 26 October
The eruptions on Tuesday started at 17:02. By 18:54 pyroclastic activity had begun to subside following 12 eruption-associated events being recorded by CVGHM monitors. 232 volcanic seismic events, 269 avalanche seismic events, 4 lava flow seismic events and 6 pyroclastic flows were recorded in the 24 hours of 26 October. The eruptive events were classified as explosive events with volcanic bursts of ejected material, visible flame and pyroclastic hot air flows. A column of smoke rose from the top to a vertical distance of 1.5 km (4,900 ft) from the summit of Mount Merapi. The first fatalities occurred on this day.


2010 eruptions of Mount Merapi, Volcanic Eruptions, Chronology of eruptive events, Friday, 29 October
On Friday eruptive activity included lava ejection with hot ash clouds reported to be flowing 3 km (1.9 mi) down the slopes of the mountain and lasting four to nine minutes. Ash falls reached as far as the Central Java town of Magelang. Scientists monitoring the volcano including Surono, chief of the Volcanology and Geological Disaster Mitigation Center (PVMBG), expressed optimism that the volcanic activity should decrease following the release of lava.


2010 eruptions of Mount Merapi, Volcanic Eruptions, Chronology of eruptive events, Friday, 29 October
Safari Dwiyono, a scientist monitoring Mt. Merapi for 15 years, said the volcanic activity appeared to be easing pressure behind a lava dome that had formed in the crater. The International Red Cross reported that on 29 October, from 07:23 to 21:40, pyroclastic flow from Merapi struck Lamat River, Senowo River, and Krasak River.


2010 eruptions of Mount Merapi, Volcanic Eruptions, Chronology of eruptive events, Saturday, 30 October
By early on the morning of Saturday 30 October the volcano was erupting again. Sri Sumarti, head of the Merapi section at the Volcano Investigation and Technology Development Institution (BPPTK), reported the eruptions were louder and stronger than those of 26 October. Ash from the eruptions on 30 October fell more than 30 km (19 mi) away and now included ash falls upon the city of Yogyakarta. Soldiers and police posted nearest the volcano were seen fleeing along with hundreds of residents who quickly clogged roads with cars and motorcycles. Black soot fell across a vast area.


2010 eruptions of Mount Merapi, Volcanic Eruptions, Chronology of eruptive events, Saturday, 30 October
The morning eruptions lasted for 22 minutes while pyroclastic flows flowed into the Krasak and Boyong Rivers and rose 3.5 km (11,000 ft) into the air, drifting westward toward Magelang. Yogyakarta's Adisucipto Airport was closed temporarily between 05:00 to 07:00. Later that day, Subandrio, head of the BPPTK suggested there would be further eruptions as magma continued to push its way up into the volcano's lava dome. A pyroclastic river flowed from Merapi again on 30 October 2010 at 00:35. A pyroclastic flow headed toward Gendol River, Kuning River, Krasak River, and Boyong River.


2010 eruptions of Mount Merapi, Volcanic Eruptions, Chronology of eruptive events, Saturday, 30 October
This was then followed by an explosion from Merapi resulting in a two-kilometre vertical high fire ball rising from the top of the mountain. This eruption caused raining sand to fall on areas to a radius of up to 10 km (6.2 mi) from the volcano. Amongst activities from government and NGO's the Indonesian Red Cross and Red Crescent (PMI) had by this time fielded up to 398 volunteers from branches in the provinces of Central Java, and Yogyakarta. These volunteers assisted in disseminating information to communities to warn of Merapi's level IV volcanic activity. PMI also provided meals for 1,000 displaced people in the Dompol camp. One of these PMI volunteers, Tutur Priyanto had died on the slopes on 26 October.


2010 eruptions of Mount Merapi, Volcanic Eruptions, Chronology of eruptive events, Monday, 1 November
The Center for Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation observation outposts at Mount Merapi began observing at 00:00 and concluded at 06:00 and reported no significant visible activity. Merapi spewed hot clouds in the afternoon. Sulfatara smoke was visible from several posts and avalanches were observed. Mount Merapi erupted at 10:10 local time Monday morning spewing hot clouds and dark fog masses in easterly direction punctuated by loud explosions. Lt Col Soekoso Wahyudi, chief of the Boyolali district military command, was reported by Antara news as saying the explosions this time were louder than those of Sunday evening 31 October.


2010 eruptions of Mount Merapi, Volcanic Eruptions, Chronology of eruptive events, Monday, 1 November
The hot clouds descended on part of the mountain slopes and moved in easterly direction. Local military and police commands deployed personnel on roads in areas around the mountain to regulate traffic which had become clogged by vehicles and people rushing to leave the danger zones. Reports from Klaten, Sleman and Boyolali districts suggested the volcanic explosions were so loud they caused panic and a rush to seek refuge. Merapi's heat and hot ash clouds continued to erupt throughout the day. A thick eruptive ash cloud was reported to rise 1.5 km (4,900 ft) into the air.


2010 eruptions of Mount Merapi, Volcanic Eruptions, Chronology of eruptive events, Monday, 1 November
The Darwin VAAC reported that a possible eruption on 1 November produced an ash plume that rose to an altitude of 6.1 km (20,000 ft) a.s.l., according to ground-based reports, analyses of satellite imagery, and web camera views. The WHO reported that Mount Merapi spewed out hot clouds of gas and ash again on Monday morning, 1 November 2010 at around 10:05 local time. Clouds of hot ash and gas billowed up to 1.5 km (4,900 ft) into the atmosphere, before cascading back down up to 4 km (2.5 mi) around the slopes of Merapi.


2010 eruptions of Mount Merapi, Volcanic Eruptions, Chronology of eruptive events, Monday, 1 November
An uninterrupted stream of smoke clouds were sent into the air for 40 minutes, heading southward toward a nearby river in Sleman regency, and took with it an estimated 2 million cubic metres of rock and earth from the peak. From the previous eruption, Crisis Center MOH reported 42 people died and 103 people were admitted to several health facilities with respiratory difficulties and burn injuries. Up to 70,143 people were reported to have been displaced. Health problems amongst the evacuees included acute respiratory infection, eye irritation, cephalgia, and hypertension. Land transportation beyond the 10 km (6.2 mi) restricted area was not disrupted. Air transportation was affected for flights from and to Yogyakarta and Solo.


2010 eruptions of Mount Merapi, Volcanic Eruptions, Chronology of eruptive events, Tuesday, 2 November
On 2 November several airlines including Garuda, AirAsia and SilkAir with international flights to both Yogyakarta and Solo were either suspended or re-routed due to the eruptive activity. CVGHM reported 26 pyroclastic flows on 2 November.


2010 eruptions of Mount Merapi, Volcanic Eruptions, Chronology of eruptive events, Wednesday, 3 November
On 3 November pyroclastic flows travelled up to 10 km (6.2 mi) away from the summit, forcing the government to evacuate people from within the refugee camps set up earlier to accommodate those already dislocated by the volcano. A mid-day report from CVGHM on 3 November stated that 38 pyroclastic flows occurred during the first 12 hours of the day. An observer from the Kaliurang post saw 19 of those 38 flows travel 4 km (2.5 mi) south. Plumes from the pyroclastic flows rose 1.2 km (0.75 mi), although dense fog made visual observations difficult. Ashfall was noted in some nearby areas.


2010 eruptions of Mount Merapi, Volcanic Eruptions, Chronology of eruptive events, Wednesday, 3 November
Eruptions in the afternoon followed a morning eruption that sent hot gas clouds down the volcano's slopes. The volcano spewed clouds of ash and gas 5 km (16,000 ft) into the sky for more than an hour. Wednesday's eruptions were reported to be the largest since the eruptions commenced. Surono announced that he was moving the shelters further from the summit. Speaking on Indonesia's Metro TV network he said, "this is the first time that the eruption has continued for more than an hour, so I decided to move the shelters to 15 km (9.3 mi) away from the summit".


2010 eruptions of Mount Merapi, Volcanic Eruptions, Chronology of eruptive events, Wednesday, 3 November
The shelters had previously been set up 10 km (6.2 mi) away. Surono added that the energy from the eruption on 3 November was three times greater than that of the first eruption in the previous week. Bambang Ervan, a spokesman from the Transportation Ministry, said an official warning had been issued to all airlines to "use alternative routes for safety reasons due to the volcanic ash."


2010 eruptions of Mount Merapi, Volcanic Eruptions, Chronology of eruptive events, Thursday, 4 November
Heavy rain during the night of 3–4 November triggered lahars with mixtures of water and rock debris cascading down the Kuning, Gendol, Woro, Boyong, Krasak and Opak Rivers on the slopes of the volcano. A bridge was destroyed and riverbanks damaged. The eruption at 05:55 was reported as being five times stronger than the initial eruption on 26 October 2010. On 4 November Merapi had been erupting for 24 hours without stopping.


2010 eruptions of Mount Merapi, Volcanic Eruptions, Chronology of eruptive events, Thursday, 4 November
Pyroclastic flows of 600 to 800 °C (1,100 to 1,500 °F) spread as far as 11.5 km (7.1 mi) from the crater reaching toward the edge of the then 15 km (9.3 mi) exclusion zone, and lava flowed into the mountain's rivers. Herry Bakti Gumay, Director General of air transportation, stated on 4 November that the warning released to all airlines operating flights into Yogyakarta would not be withdrawn until conditions returned to normal.


2010 eruptions of Mount Merapi, Volcanic Eruptions, Chronology of eruptive events, Friday, 5 November
Merapi erupted strongly early Friday morning. Volcanic ash fell at Cangkringan district and its surroundings 10 km (6.2 mi) from the crater. Due to continuous large eruptions, the BNPB extended the safety zone to a radius of 20 km (12 mi) and Yogyakarta's airport was closed again for 3 hours in the morning. Residents who were within 15 km (9.3 mi) of the summit were asked to leave and seek a safer place.


2010 eruptions of Mount Merapi, Volcanic Eruptions, Chronology of eruptive events, Friday, 5 November
Volcanologists reported the eruptions on Friday 5 November to be the biggest since the 1870s and officials announced by loudspeaker that the mountain's danger zone had been expanded to 20 km (12 mi) from the crater. Bronggang, a village 15 km (9.3 mi) from the crater saw its streets blanketed by ash up to 30 centimetres (12 in) deep. By this point, more than 100,000 people had been evacuated and the scientists monitoring the events were withdrawn from their posts to a safer distance.


2010 eruptions of Mount Merapi, Volcanic Eruptions, Chronology of eruptive events, Friday, 5 November
The Australian Bureau of Meteorology, Volcanic Ash Advisory Center (VAAC) issued an ongoing code red Aviation Volcanic Ash Advisory and reported MTSAT-2 satellite image-derived information indicating a volcanic ash plume to (55,000 feet (17,000 m) – FL550), extending 190 nautical miles (350 km) to the west and southwest of the mountain.


2010 eruptions of Mount Merapi, Volcanic Eruptions, Chronology of eruptive events, Saturday, 6 November
The Center for Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation observation outposts reported high intensity ash falls on the slopes of Mt Merapi. At 23:51 a flash of smoke, hot air winds and flames as high as 3 km (1.9 mi) occurred to the west, north and to the east. The day's volcanic activity was very high, with sequential hot ash clouds erupting from the mountain. The alert level for the remained at level 4 and the official exclusion zone was a radius 20 km (12 mi) from the summit of Mount Merapi.


2010 eruptions of Mount Merapi, Volcanic Eruptions, Chronology of eruptive events, Sunday, 7 November
On Sunday, 7 November President of Indonesia Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono opened a limited cabinet meeting at Gedung Agung, the presidential residence in Yogyakarta located 30 kilometres south of the volcano to address the emergency response to the eruptions of Mount Merapi. At the meeting he reaffirmed his support of the Badan Koordinasi Nasional Penanganan Bencana- (Indonesian Disaster Management Office) and their administration and control of the disaster response. At 03:02 hot ash clouds flowed in the direction of the Gendol and Woro rivers. Volcanic earthquake and hot ash cloud events were reported to have increased from the previous day.


2010 eruptions of Mount Merapi, Volcanic Eruptions, Chronology of eruptive events, Sunday, 7 November
The JakartaGlobe reported that Merapi continued to belch out deadly pyroclastic flows and clouds of superheated ash and gases. At least 135 people had died on its slopes over the previous two weeks, and authorities were still struggling on Sunday to help those injured from Friday's massive eruption. Police stationed on the slopes complained that they were having considerable difficulties stopping people entering the exclusion zone and putting their lives at risk on the mountains slopes.


2010 eruptions of Mount Merapi, Volcanic Eruptions, Chronology of eruptive events, Monday, 8 November
Department of Air Transport's Director General Herry Bakti announced on 8 November that flights in and out of Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in Jakarta had returned to normal. Government vulcanologist Surono said gas and ash soared 4 km (13,000 ft) into the air on Monday as the volcano continued to erupt, "Merapi hasn't stopped erupting since 3 November. It's been fluctuating but tends to be in the high intensity range."


2010 eruptions of Mount Merapi, Volcanic Eruptions, Chronology of eruptive events, Tuesday, 9 November
The eruption that began on Friday continued for another day with less intensity as more bodies were retrieved from villages destroyed by pyroclastic flows.


2010 eruptions of Mount Merapi, Volcanic Eruptions, Chronology of eruptive events, Tuesday, 9 November
On 9 November BNPB announced that they considered the eruptive activities of 2010 to have exceeded the activities of the mountains eruption in 1872. Based on historical records, the eruption of Merapi in 1872 was recorded for 120 hours, while the eruption of 2010 had already presented five days of relentless activity since Thursday 4 November and up until 8 November had erupted for more than 120 hours or more without pause.


2010 eruptions of Mount Merapi, Volcanic Eruptions, Chronology of eruptive events, Tuesday, 9 November
Subandriyo, head of the Volcano Investigation and Technology Development Institution (Balai Penyelidikan dan Pengembangan Teknologi Kegunungapian) (BPPTK) in Yogyakarta revealed that hot ash clouds during the eruptions of 138 years ago had a maximum reach of only 11–12 km (36,000–39,000 ft), whilst the current eruptions were reaching 14.5 km (48,000 ft).


2010 eruptions of Mount Merapi, Volcanic Eruptions, Chronology of eruptive events, Tuesday, 9 November
The Center for Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation (PVMBG) Geological Agency, head officer, Dr Surono announced on 9 November that during the hours of 06:00 to 12:00 eruptive events were continuing with sequential volcanic earthquakes, tremors, avalanches fast moving clouds were still travelling as far as 4 km (2.5 mi) toward the southwest. Yogyakarta residents and evacuees were reminded that the threat of pyroclastic ash clouds and lahar floods remained. The people of Yogyakarta were also reminded to observe the instructions to remain outside a radius of 20 km (12 mi) from the peak of Merapi.


2010 eruptions of Mount Merapi, Volcanic Eruptions, Chronology of eruptive events, Tuesday, 9 November
On 9 November a 5.6 magnitude earthquake was felt in Yogyakarta. Reports by the Bureau of Meteorology Climatology and Geophysics (BMKG), detailed the tectonic earthquake as measuring 5.6 on the Richter scale (SR) at 14:03:27. The epicenter was 125 km (78 mi) south-west of Bantul, precisely at 8.98 south latitude coordinates (LS) and 110.08 east longitude (BT) at a depth of 10 km (6.2 mi). The quake's epicenter was at sea and had no tsunami potential. This type of tectonic earthquake was not sourced from the volcanic activity of Mount Merapi. On the night of 9 November there was a burst of ash reaching up to 1.8 km (5,900 ft) vertically.


2010 eruptions of Mount Merapi, Volcanic Eruptions, Chronology of eruptive events, Wednesday 10 November
On 10 November 2010 the eruptive intensity was noticed to subside, despite that the volcano's activity remained high with recurring pyroclastic flows. The exclusion zone was maintained at 20 km (12 mi)


2010 eruptions of Mount Merapi, Volcanic Eruptions, Chronology of eruptive events, Thursday 11 November
Based on the results of instrumental and visual monitoring by CVGHM (PVMBG), on 11 November activity at Mount Merapi was found to remain high with ash falls and pyroclastic flows extending to 3 km. Under these conditions, the volcanic activity status remained at a dangerous level (level 4), with an ongoing danger from hot air clouds and lava. In the reports of by CVGHM (PVMBG), on 11 November the eruptive activities were noted to be continuing but at a level of decreased intensity. Seventeen avalanches were recorded with one hot ash eruption and one volcanic earthquake. The volcano remained a level 4 alert with a recommendation of a "Caution" level being adopted. Refugees were to remain at a distance of greater than 20 km.


2010 eruptions of Mount Merapi, Volcanic Eruptions, Chronology of eruptive events, Wednesday 17 November
Reports by CVGHM (PVMPG) of eruptive activity including hot air clouds, smoke columns, avalanches and volcanic earthquakes continued throughout 16, 17 and 18 November. White and grey smoke was reported emerging from Merapi with smoke columns rising to 1,500 m (4,900 ft). Smoke emissions continued to drift south and southwest of the mountain. Based on monitoring and assessment by CVGHM (PVMPG) the activity Mount Merapi was still considered to be remain at a high level on 18 November. The activity status of the volcano remained at Caution level (Level 4). The threat of immediate danger of eruption continued to be attributed to hot air and ash clouds (awanpanas) with indirect threats attributed to lava ejections.


2010 eruptions of Mount Merapi, Volcanic Eruptions, Chronology of eruptive events, Late November
In late November Mount Merapi still remained on alert due to threats in the form of hot clouds and lava. Eruptions were still being reported by PVMPG on 26 November but occurring with decreased intensity to those earlier in the month. The PVMPG still set conditions on the status of Merapi at CAUTION (Level 4). The immediate danger from Mount Merapi continued to be from hot ash clouds eruptions and indirect threats in the form of lava and lahar. The recommended exclusion zones remained at between 5 and 20 km.


2010 eruptions of Mount Merapi, Volcanic Eruptions, Chronology of eruptive events, Late November
The mountain was still erupting on 30 November 2010 and the official alert status remained at level 4.


2010 eruptions of Mount Merapi, Volcanic Eruptions, Chronology of eruptive events, December
On Friday 3 December 2010 the head of the National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB), Dr. Syamsul Maarif, M. Si, accompanied by the head of the Centre for Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation CVGHM (PVMBG), Dr. Surono made a joint press release at the BNPB Command Post in Yogyakarta. As of 3 December 2010, at 09:00, the CVGHM (PVMBG) lowered the status of Mount Merapi to the level of Caution Alert (Level III). They clarified that with this alert level the potential of hot ash clouds and projected incandescent material remained. The Geological Agency provided several recommendations including that there would be no community activities in the disaster prone areas and proclaimed an ongoing exclusion zone of 2.5 km (1.6 mi) radius.


2010 eruptions of Mount Merapi, Lava dome deformation
During the last week of October 2010, deformation measurements were performed by Electric Distance Measurement (EDM), utilising reflectors mounted around the summit of Mount Merapi. The measurement results indicated a rapidly increasing rate of growth of the lava dome in the buildup to the eruptive events of 25–26 October 2010.


2010 eruptions of Mount Merapi, Lava dome deformation
At the end of September 2010, the peak inflation rate of the lava dome at Mount Merapi was measured by EDM at an average growth rate of 6 millimetres (0.24 in). The subsequent rate of inflation up until 21 October 2010 reached 105 mm (4.1 in) per day. The inflation rate then increased very sharply, reaching 420 mm (17 in) per day by 24 October 2010. By 25 October the average grow rate, measured from 6 EDM points over 24–25 October had risen to 500 mm (20 in) per day.


2010 eruptions of Mount Merapi, Lava dome deformation
The information gathered at the site indicated that the distension of the mountain's slopes was much more rapid this during the current event than that observed during the 2006 event.


2010 eruptions of Mount Merapi, Lava dome deformation
On 26 October the head of the Indonesian Center for Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation, Surono, repeated his earlier statements that the greatest concern was the pressure building behind a massive lava dome that has formed near the tip of the crater. "The energy is building up. ... We hope it will release slowly," he said. "Otherwise we're looking at a potentially huge eruption, bigger than anything we've seen in years".


2010 eruptions of Mount Merapi, Lava dome deformation
Surono also said that said the distension of the mountain's slopes was much more rapid this time around, indicating a higher-pressure build-up of gas and hence a much more explosive eruption and speculated that Merapi may erupt explosively, as it did in 1930, and not just eject gas as in 2006 eruptions.


2010 eruptions of Mount Merapi, Lava dome deformation
By 5 November, following a week of ongoing explosive eruptions, experts monitoring Merapi were reported as being "baffled" as, despite earlier predictions that the eruptions following the initial blast in the prior week would ease pressure building up behind a magma dome, instead the eruptions intensified. An estimated 50 million cubic metres of volcanic material had been released by 5 November. "It was the biggest in at least a century," said Gede Swantika, a state volcanologist, commenting on the eruptions of 5 November as plumes of smoke rose up more than 10,000 m (33,000 ft).


2010 eruptions of Mount Merapi, Lava dome deformation
On 17 November Dr Surono, head of the Volcanology and Geological Disaster Management Agency CVGHM (PVMBG) reported that Merapi was still spewing ash and rock. "Most of the initial eruptions threw the ash south toward Sleman in Yogyakarta, but now it's blowing west toward Magelang in Central Java," Surono said. The later eruptions had not been as powerful because of the formation of three new lava vents in addition to the main one in the crater. This helped lessen the intensity of the eruptions. "If you look at the mountain's peak at night, you'll notice three small glowing points," Surono said. "That's actually a good sign because it means the volcano is releasing all its pent-up energy more quickly."


2010 eruptions of Mount Merapi, Casualties
On 26 October at least 18 people, including a two-month-old baby, were found dead due to burns and respiratory failure caused by hot ashes from the eruption. Thousands were evacuated within a radius of 10 km (6.2 mi) around the slopes of the volcano.


2010 eruptions of Mount Merapi, Casualties
By Wednesday 27 October the death toll had risen to at least 25. The death toll included an elder, Mbah Maridjan (grandfather Marijan), known as the volcano's spiritual gatekeeper, who was found dead at his home approximately 4 km (2.5 mi) from the peak. The Yogyakarta Kraton subsequently confirmed his death. The 10 km (6.2 mi) exclusion zone remained in place at the volcano with evacuation and ongoing search and rescue activities continuing at the site in an attempt to locate further victims of the previous day's eruptions.


2010 eruptions of Mount Merapi, Casualties
Later reports revised the toll upward to 30 persons recorded at Yogyakarta's Dr. Sardjito Hospital with 17 hospitalized, mostly with burns, respiratory problems and other injuries. Earlier on 27 October two of the 28 bodies at the hospital had been identified. Yuniawan Nugroho, an editor with the vivanews.com news portal, was reported to have been killed while conducting reportage on the night of Tuesday 26 October, the other was later identified as Indonesian Tutur Priyanto, a 36-year man working for the Red Cross as a volunteer on the mountain.


2010 eruptions of Mount Merapi, Casualties
Tutur Priyanto had been retrieving and escorting residents from the slopes of the mountain. After making many trips he returned for a further ascent at 15:00 to assist others to come off the mountain and died during one of the subsequent eruptive events. The Indonesian National Disaster Mitigation Agency stated at 10:00 on morning of 1 November that 38 people had been killed and 69,533 evacuated since Merapi began erupting on 26 October. The victims came from the district of Sleman, Yogyakarta, where 37 people (including 25 men and 12 women), and 1 baby died. Indonesia's vulcanology agency warned that flights around Yogyakarta may be disrupted.


2010 eruptions of Mount Merapi, Casualties
By the afternoon of 5 November the Indonesian National Disaster Management Agency was reporting 122 deaths attributable to the Merapi eruptions, primarily residents from Sleman. In the report made at 15:00 the additional victims who died on 5 November contributed as many as 64 people to the total, also mainly residents of Sleman. They died due to exposure to pyroclastic flows from Mount Merapi on Friday at 01:00 in the morning. An additional 151 people were reported as injured and admitted to four Yogyakarta hospitals.


2010 eruptions of Mount Merapi, Casualties
Dr Sardjito hospital had 78 people, Bethesda Hospital had 6 people, Suradji Hospital 35 people, Tirtonegoro 7 people and Sleman Hospital Panti Rapih 25 people. Most of the victims died in pyroclastic flows at approximately 8 km (5.0 mi) from the summit. Bronggang, 14.5 km (9.0 mi) from the crater, had been designated as a safe zone. Soldiers joined the rescue operations there, pulling at least 78 bodies from homes and streets blanketed by ash 30 centimetres (12 in) deep.


2010 eruptions of Mount Merapi, Casualties
People there had been killed when hot ash clouds from the crater had travelled down the mountain in pyroclastic flows at speeds of up to 100 km (62 mi) per hour and engulfed their village. Injured were removed on stretchers many with clothes, blankets and mattresses fused to their skin by the heat. Many of those killed on 5 November were children from Argomulyo village, 18 km (11 mi) from the crater, according to emergency response officials and witnesses.


2010 eruptions of Mount Merapi, Casualties
On 5 November full emergency response operations were announced under the single command of Syamsul Muarif, the head of the Indonesian National Agency for Disaster Management (BNPB) in co-operation with the Governor of Yogyakarta, the Governor of Central Java, the Commander of Diponegoro IV Military Region, Central Java police chief and Yogyakarta Special Region police chief.


2010 eruptions of Mount Merapi, Casualties
On the morning of 6 November BNPB provided a victim report. At that time there were 198,488 refugees, 218 people were injured, and 114 people had been recorded as having died. All the victims came from the districts of Sleman, Magelang, Klaten and Boyolali.


2010 eruptions of Mount Merapi, Casualties
The JakartaGlobe reported on 8 November that at least 135 people had died on Merapi's slopes over the previous two weeks, and that authorities were still struggling on Sunday to help those injured from Friday's massive eruption. The bodies of four members of the Indonesian Disaster Response Team were found on the slopes of Mount Merapi on Monday, 8 November. A Search and Rescue (SAR) team discovered the bodies at 06:00 at the Glagaharjo barracks. The building itself had been destroyed by a volcanic mudflow according to the returning retrieval party.


2010 eruptions of Mount Merapi, Casualties
The team reported recovering four bodies and seeing one further. Another body in Banjarsari hamlet was found by an Army Special Forces (Kopassus) team. However rescue officials had to retreat as eruptive activity made their further presence on the slopes too dangerous. A hot ash cloud from an eruption forced the SAR group to leave the area carrying only one corpse while the three other bodies were left behind.


2010 eruptions of Mount Merapi, Casualties
The Jakarta Globe, quoting the Antara news agency, reported the same day that a total of six bodies of the missing Disaster Response Team members were recovered from the village of Glagaharjo in Sleman, Yogyakarta. The bodies of another two members of the response team, known as Tagana, were yet to be found or recovered. The victims had been missing since Thursday and were presumed dead.


2010 eruptions of Mount Merapi, Casualties
On Monday 8 November Dr. Surono, Head of the Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation (PVMBG) reminded volunteers and rescue workers that eruptive activity was still high. Volunteers were reminded to be aware of the mortal danger presented by the pyroclastic clouds and were encouraged to concentrate on assisting the living at the refugee shelters rather than being concerned about the evacuation of the dead from the mountain. It was made clear by Dr. Surono that only Army Special Forces, specialised Search and Rescue teams, and the Police should be involved in those highly dangerous activities. Nine further victims died from the further eruptions of Mount Merapi at Dr Sardjito hospital in Yogyakata on Monday 9 November bringing the total number of deaths recorded there to 97, with 103 victims still being treated at that hospital.


2010 eruptions of Mount Merapi, Casualties
The death toll was reported to be over 153 by 9 November with at least 320,000 people reported to have been evacuated to emergency shelters. One hospital recorded 12 more bodies brought to its morgue on 9 November, including seven pulled from a destroyed village. Another five people who were being treated for burns died.


2010 eruptions of Mount Merapi, Casualties
The National Disaster Management Agency announced on 11 November that the death toll since the first eruption on 26 October had climbed to 194, three-quarters of those from searing heat blasts during the biggest eruptions and included deaths from respiratory problems, heart attacks and other illnesses related to the eruptions.


2010 eruptions of Mount Merapi, Casualties
The number of people killed by the ongoing eruptions had risen to 275 by 18 November. The National Disaster Management Agency announced the death toll had climbed after more than a dozen victims succumbed to their injuries, the majority of those being from severe burns. Most of the 275 people were reported as being killed by searing gas clouds and from respiratory complications, burns and other illnesses related to the eruptions. Some victims died in road and other accidents during the panicked exodus from the mountain.


2010 eruptions of Mount Merapi, Casualties
By 22 November, the death toll had risen to 304 and by 24 November the toll had risen to 324. Syamsul Maarif, head of the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) explained that the death toll had risen after a number of victims succumbed to severe burns and more bodies were found on the volcano's slopes. By 3 December the toll had risen to 353.


2010 eruptions of Mount Merapi, Civil impacts
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono arrived in Yogyakarta on the night Friday, 5 November and had set up his command post at Gedung Agung. Yudhoyono said he had also assigned Agung Laksono, coordinating minister for people's welfare, to coordinate aid from the central government. The military mobilised a brigade to build makeshift hospitals and public kitchens to serve the growing number of displaced. The President also announced that the coordination of disaster mitigation for the eruption had been tasked to Syamsul Maarif, the head of the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB).


2010 eruptions of Mount Merapi, Civil impacts
"Looking at the scale and the continuity of the disaster, I decided that the command is now in the hand of the BNPB head with the help of the Yogyakarta and Central Java governors, the Diponegoro military commander and the heads of the police of Central Java and Yogyakarta," he said, adding that the decision was effective as of Friday.


2010 eruptions of Mount Merapi, Civil impacts
The alert level for the volcano remained at level 4. On 6 November the official exclusion zone was at radius 20 km (12 mi) from the summit of Mount Merapi. Refugee camps that were previously located within a radius of 15 km (9.3 mi) were re-located to secure locations placing an added burden upon logistics and the delivery of basic needs to the people displaced by the evacuations.


2010 eruptions of Mount Merapi, Civil impacts
By 7 November due to the eruptions and ash falls in the surrounding area of Central Java, the price of many vegetables, such as potatoes and water spinach were reported as increasing. Schools were reported closed up to 120 km (75 mi) west of Yogyakarta.


2010 eruptions of Mount Merapi, Civil impacts
On 8 November upon a directive from both the President and the Prime Minister of the United Arab Emirates the UAE Red Crescent Authority (Red Cross) responded to appeals by Indonesian officials to assist the Yogyakarta population and is providing a field hospital. According to head of medical services at the UAE Interior Ministry Brig. Salem Al-Junaibi is to be staffed by medical and administrative workers and will be set up within the 'safe zone' more than 20 km from the mountain.


2010 eruptions of Mount Merapi, Civil impacts
Acute respiratory infection, hypertension, and headache were affecting Mount Merapi eruption survivors. "The displaced people are so vulnerable to these diseases," an official of the Health Ministry Supriyantoro stated on Sunday, 7 November. Refugees received medical treatment at clinics set up inside the refugee shelters with serious cases despatched to local hospitals, the Mount Merapi refugees were not required to pay for medical treatment. 45 hospitals and more than 100 health centers were serving Mount Merapi eruption victims in the districts of Sleman, Klaten, Magelang and Boyolali, he said.


2010 eruptions of Mount Merapi, Civil impacts
"But we (health workers) have difficulties in taking care of the refugees' health problems because many moved from one refugee shelter to another." Asked about the medical supplies for the refugees, especially those with serious burns, he said the supplies were not sufficient, but situation could still be handled and overcome.


2010 eruptions of Mount Merapi, Civil impacts
On Tuesday, 9 November, Indonesian Red Cross chairman Jusuf Kalla encouraged the development of a disaster preparedness curriculum to assist in dealing with natural disasters ("Harus ada kurikulum kebencanaan") through an ongoing training and education.


2010 eruptions of Mount Merapi, Civil impacts
320,000 people were reported to have been evacuated to emergency shelters by 9 November following the widening of the evacuation zone the previous week. Many children remained separated from their parents due to the chaos surrounding the mass exodus of refugees fleeing from the mountain slopes and the refugees were living in cramped temporary shelters after being ordered to evacuate from a 20-kilometre "danger zone" around Mount Merapi. "We are concerned about children who are yet to be united with their parents," said Makbul Mubarak, a coordinator for volunteers who are trying to reunite separated families.