Mount Merapi subduction zone, where the Indo-Australian Plate is subducting under the Sunda Plate. It is one of at least 129 active volcanoes in Indonesia, part of the volcano is located in the Southeastern part of the Pacific Ring of Fire–a section of fault lines stretching from the Western Hemisphere through Japan and South East Asia. Stratigraphic analysis reveals that eruptions in the Merapi area began about 400,000 years ago, and from then until about 10,000 years ago, eruptions were typically effusive, and the out flowing lava emitted was basaltic. Since then, eruptions have become more explosive, with viscous andesitic lavas often
2010 eruptions of Mount Merapi suffering from serious depression and anxiety, while one man had committed suicide, reportedly due to stress. On Thursday, 18 November the Australian Government Department of Foreign Affairs issued a second update to their 11 November travel advisory bulletin acknowledging the announcement by Indonesian authorities on 15 November scaling back the 20 kilometre exclusion zone in some of the regions around Mount Merapi. The exclusion zone had been reduced to in the District (Kabupaten) of Magelang and to in the Districts of Klaten and Boyolali. The exclusion zone in the District of Sleman, towards the city of Yogyakarta, remained at .