Mount Merapi in Central Java, Indonesia, began an increasingly violent series of eruptions that lasted over a month.

Mount Merapi is an active stratovolcano located on the border between the province of Central Java and the Special Region of Yogyakarta, Indonesia. It is the most active volcano in Indonesia and has erupted regularly since 1548. It is located approximately 28 km (17 mi) north of Yogyakarta city which has a population of 2.4 million. Thousands of people live on the flanks of the volcano, with villages as high as 1,700 m (5,577 ft) above sea level.

Central Java is a province of Indonesia, located in the middle of the island of Java. Its administrative capital is Semarang. It is bordered by West Java in the west, the Indian Ocean and the Special Region of Yogyakarta in the south, East Java in the east, and the Java Sea in the north. It has a total area of 33,750.37 km², with a population of 36,516,035 at the 2020 Census making it the third-most populous province in both Java and Indonesia after West Java and East Java. The official population estimate in mid-2024 was 37,892,280. The province also includes a number of offshore islands, including the island of Nusakambangan in the south, and the Karimun Jawa Islands in the Java Sea.

In late October 2010, Mount Merapi in border of Central Java and Special Region of Yogyakarta, 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 volcanic ash. Large eruption columns formed, causing a number of pyroclastic flows down the heavily populated slopes of the volcano. The 2010 eruption of Merapi was the volcano's largest since 1872.