2010 eruptions of Mount Merapi possible widening of the exclusion zone was considered to have the potential to affect the availability of departure options. It was noted that there had been a deterioration in air quality in Yogyakarta from ash falling on the city. It was cautioned that volcanic ash could cause breathing difficulties, particularly for people with chronic respiratory ailments such as asthma, emphysema, or bronchitis. The Indonesian Social Welfare Minister, Salim Segaf Al-Jufri announced on 19 November that the government planned to end the emergency response period for the Mount Merapi eruption disaster on 24 November. "We will maintain the emergency response period
USS Merapi (AF-38) Galveston Dry Dock Co., "Merapi" hastened through shakedown and departed Mobile, Alabama, 11 April, for the Pacific Ocean war zone. Specializing in refrigerated stores, she sailed via Pearl Harbor to Kerama Retto, Okinawa where in the midst of numerous air alerts she unloaded 14 to 19 June. Having retired to Pearl Harbor for more supplies she got underway again on 20 July and spent the final month of the war at Eniwetok Atoll disbursing cargo. In the postwar period "Merapi" provided logistic support for U.S. occupation forces, initially using Auckland, New Zealand, as her supply base. Spending much of 1946