Shaped as a perfect cone, almost 10.000 feet high, Mount Merapi towers majestically over the near-by city of Yoygakarta.

On a clear day you can see sulfur smoke escaping from the summit of the town’s landmark. It’s a popular regional tourist attraction.

But Merapi is as dangerous as a powder keg – ready to explode any second, spiting out deadly heat clouds, ashes and burning hot lava like it did so many times before – killing anybody near the gorge of Indonesia’s most active volcano.

But despite the threat hundreds of people live on the slopes, many waiting for mystic signs before they believe the danger is real.

As Peter Koppen and Sutami report Merapi is much more than a mountain to the Javanese living in its shadow.

It’s been one year since the Yogyakarta earthquake that left nearly six thousand people dead and more than 200 thousands other homeless.

While officials say they have managed to reconstruct 80 percent of the damaged houses, some 3,000 families are still living in tents and other temporary shelter.

As Peter Koppen and Sutami found out…many are still deeply traumatised by the disaster.