Indonesians stay on rumbling volcano's slopes

BOYOLALI, Indonesia (Reuters) - Thousands of villagers are ignoring government warnings of an approaching eruption and staying put in their homes on the slopes of Indonesia's rumbling Mount Merapi, officials said on Monday.

The volcano, which claimed more than 60 lives 1994 and 1,300 in a 1930 eruption, has been spewing thick smoke for nearly a week. Vulcanologists say it may erupt at the end of the month, but many villagers fear losing property and livestock if they go.

Some others, particularly older people, say they would prefer to die on their own land.

"Honestly, to mobilize people is difficult because they are going on with their daily lives," Susilo Purwanto, a government official in charge of disaster victims' welfare, told Reuters.

"Some were still even milking their cows," he said.

Indonesia has successfully moved more than 600 people away from the restive volcano but that is still way below the total living on the slopes of Java's Mount Merapi, which overlooks the ancient royal city of Yogyakarta.

Officials put the total number of residents on the mountain at around 14,000.

Most of those who have been moved are women, children and the elderly, but hundreds are still living near the slopes of the volcano, which has been placed on "Orange Code" -- the second highest alert level -- due to an increase in tremors.

Some of the evacuated residents return to their home villages during the day to feed their livestock, said Riyoto Suwarjo, a social service official from the central government office.