(Agencies)
Updated: 2007-10-19 14:51

MOUNT KELUD, Indonesia -- Armed police forced tens of thousands of reluctant residents to leave the slopes of one of Indonesia's deadliest volcanos Friday amid warnings that an eruption was imminent.

Police officers help an elderly woman during a forced evacuation of a village on the slope of Mount Kelud near the town of Kediri, East Java, Indonesia, Thursday, Oct. 18, 2007. [Agencies]

The United Nations, meanwhile, sent aid workers and medical supplies to the area.

Scientists raised the alert at Mount Kelud to the highest level this week, pointing to rising temperatures and deep underground tremors. Authorities ordered 116,000 people living along the fertile slopes to evacuate, but many have refused, saying they wanted to tend to crops and herds.

"If we don't force them -- in this case with a showing of firearms -- the villagers would not budge, although we have repeatedly reminded them of the danger," said local police chief Col. Tjuk Basuki. "We had no choice but to do this for their safety."

Mount Kelud, on the densely populated island of Java, last erupted in 1990, killing dozens. In 1919, a powerful explosion, heard hundreds of miles away destroyed dozens of villages and killed 5,160 people.

The UN said Friday that the World Health Organization had activated 100 medics, put 200 health facilities on alert and established 41 outreach health posts. Emergency health kits, masks and essential equipment also were distributed.

Indonesia, which has about 150 active volcanos spread across 17,500 islands, sits on the Pacific "Ring of Fire" -- a series of volcanos and fault lines stretching from the Western Hemisphere through Japan and Southeast Asia.

Mount Kelud is 385 miles east of the capital, Jakarta.