Sukiman, now 39, has been living in the immediate shadow of Indonesia's Mount Merapi since he was born. His modest one-storey brick house is only four kilometres from the volcanic peak in the heartland of Java.

For generations, his family has lived off the fertile land near Merapi, which forms part of the Ring of Fire, an arc of volcanoes and fault lines in the Pacific Basin. The four districts surrounding the volcano are home to some 70,000 Javanese, most of them farmers.

Despite the obvious dangers of living in close proximity to one of the country's most active volcanoes, Sukiman says he's not afraid. "I know the characteristics of Merapi and the house is far away from the river," he says with a grin.

Then he shows us his secret weapons - a small, dark room with a computer, mixer and microphone, and a simple two-storey observation tower on a slope outside his house with a direct view of Merapi.

This is the base of Lintas Merapi (which translates roughly as "Crossing Merapi"), an eight-year-old community radio station serving around 10,000 people in the area with daily updates on the weather, the volcano and educational programmes about the environment and how to reduce the risks of disasters.

Every day, Sukiman and his team of 14 volunteers take turns to observe Merapi's behaviour. They have been trained by the national department monitoring the volcano and a local disaster management organisation.

When necessary, they warn people of risks and weather patterns - heavy rain on the mountain usually triggers warnings of floods downstream.

HUMBLE ORIGINS

When Lintas Merapi started out in 2000 with the help of a student organisation from Yogyakarta, it was one of three community radio stations in the area. The other two have since folded.

Sukiman puts his station's survival down to the team's farsightedness, business acumen, community spirit and ability to gain people's trust. "It takes a while and we have had to share information many times. When the information turned out to be correct, then around 2005, (the community) started to trust us," he says.

It costs around 300,000 rupiah (about $30) per month to maintain the station, including utility costs and travel to observation towers and training sessions for villagers on disaster risk reduction (DRR). On-air and off-air activities pay for the upkeep.

The team earns some income by working as tour guides and conducting DRR training for community leaders living near Kelud, a volcano in East Java, at the request of aid agencies like Oxfam.

The radio station also has an agreement with a telecoms company, under which it receives a proportion of revenues generated by SMS messages sent by local people when requesting songs.

Merapi has been monitored since the early 1920s because of to its active status. But Lintas Merapi is one of the first initiatives to offer the community a chance to get involved.

Their feedback shapes the 12-hour broadcasts, and the programmes are tailored to their needs. The result is an eclectic mix of information, ranging from weather patterns to livestock and agriculture prices, interspersed with popular music.

For Sukiman and the tens of thousands of people living near Merapi, the volcano has brought many good things: fertile soil, a lush landscape and income from adventurers wanting to conquer the majestic volcano.

'MOUNTAIN OF FIRE'

But Merapi (which translates aptly as "Mountain of Fire") also brings death and disaster. During its last major eruption in 1994, heat clouds killed 60 people in a village that had been untouched by lava flows for hundreds of years.

And in 2006, around the time of the deadly Yogyakarta earthquake, it simmered for weeks, forcing tens of thousands to flee. It remains dangerous, not least because it is located in a densely populated area.

The volcano erupts every two to three years on a small scale, while large eruptions occur every 10 to 15 years, according to Oxfam, which has been working in the area since 1994.

Soaring 2,900m above sea level, Merapi is around 25 miles north of Yogyakarta, the country's second most popular tourist destination after Bali. A deadly eruption would affect not only those in the immediate vicinity but could also damage or overload infrastructure and hurt Yogayakarta's tourism revenues, impacting millions of people.

But eruptions are just one of the risks. Aid agencies say other other hazards include lahar (mudflows formed of water and rock debris), flooding and environmental degradation from deforestation and sand mining.

Lahars are especially dangerous as they can travel long distances. They are usually triggered by heavy rainfall which erodes cooled lava from steep volcanic slopes, carrying along ash, sand, gravel and stones. The rivers around Merapi are also prone to flooding during monsoon due to sediment deposits.

Two years ago, the local government and communities got together with aid agencies, including Oxfam and the United Nations Development Programme, to set up Forum Merapi, a group that focuses on reducing the risk of disasters. It works in 62 villages in four districts, educating residents on the dangers from Merapi and the need to take care of the environment.

The quality of volcanic sand attracts miners and private companies, and huge amounts of sand are quarried from the base of the mountain every day in eight-tonne trucks. This is causing serious environmental problems, critics say.

There have been sporadic attempts to control the mining of sand, but during our visit, heavy vehicles passed us regularly, churning up the main evacuation route. For Sukiman, however, sand mining is a reality.

"We cannot stop it, and I have neighbours and friends who are sand miners," he says. So Lintas Merapi encourages people to plant trees to protect their houses from the dust and land erosion.

Beyond that, Sukiman hopes the radio's broadcasts will warn sand miners and people living downstream of impending dangers, and - just as importantly - make sure they know how to act.

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