Indonesia’s Mount Merapi volcano spewed avalanches of hot clouds Thursday morning as hundreds more residents were evacuated from its fertile slopes, AP reported.

Authorities evacuated more than 500 people living on the mountain in Magelang district on Java Island. Thousands of people already have had to leave their homes and farmland because of the dangers on Merapi, Indonesia’s most active volcano.

Light eruptions continued during the day. The Geological Disaster Technology Research and Development Center estimated the hot clouds spread less than 1 kilometer from the crater.

“Until now, the potential danger is not more than 5 kilometers,” chief of Yogyakarta’s Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation Center, Hanik Humaida, said in a statement.

The 2,968-meter mountain is about 30 kilometers from the Yogyakarta city center. About a quarter million people live within 10 kilometers of the volcano, according to authorities in surrounding districts.