PAK MARYOTO looks, more than anything, like a victim of Hiroshima. His face, arms and legs are webbed with thick keloid scars. His hands are deformed stumps, with fingers and nails sticking out at appalling angles.

For two years after he suffered terrible burns, his wife had to feed him. Now, with the help of a specially designed spoon held in his stumps, he can eat unassisted.

Mr Maryoto, 50, is a member of a rare and exclusive club — those who have been caught in the path of an erupting volcano and lived. Now, 12 years after being crippled by the mountain where he was born and grew up, he is afraid that it will happen again.

After three years of relative dormancy, Mount Merapi in Indonesia has rumbled back to life.

For weeks clouds of smoke have billowed out and trails of lava flowed down the mountain. Then last Saturday came the huge earthquake, centred 30 miles (50km) south of here, measuring 6.3 on the Richter scale. Apart from terrifying and crushing human beings, the earthquake had another effect — it drove Merapi wild.

Volcanic activity beneath the 2,914m mountain surged to levels three times higher than before the disaster. Yesterday it appeared to be dwindling, although there were ominous signs — five new rivers of lava moving down river valleys on the west side of the mountain.

Scientists disagree on whether the earthquake is linked to the eruption of Mount Merapi, or whether it could trigger or accelerate the full eruption. But the mountain’s residents cannot help but think the worst. “I am still afraid of Mount Merapi,” Mr Maryoto said. “Now I feel that the same thing could happen to me all over again.”

Volcanoes are easy enough to imagine from a distance. But you have to meet someone like Mr Maryoto to understand the effect that they have close up.

It was November 1994 when it happened, the wedding day of two of Mr Maryoto’s relatives in the village of Turgo. “We were inside the house and I was serving drinks for the guests,” he said. “Suddenly, the house shook, and then it fell down. And then the hot cloud was all over us, like a black cloud, but filled with fire. And it burnt me all over my body.”

He was the victim of the greatest hazard of an erupting volcano — a pyroclastic flow, a superheated miasma of ash and gas. Sixteen of the wedding party died, including the bride and groom. Mr Maryoto and nine others survived.

According to the latest figures at least 5,846 people were killed in last Saturday’s earthquake, 30,000 were injured, and 647,000 were made homeless.

Merapi is now under intense scrutiny. A sage named Maridjan has refused evacuation, saying that the spirit world has assured him there will be no eruption.

Others prefer to rely on more scientific methods. At the Kaliurang observation post, a seismograph indicates the movements beneath the surface. Its custodian, Heru Suparwaoko, points out the lines that suggest an earthquake, lava stream or pyroclastic flow. If a “hot cloud” comes within 6km, the monitors are under orders to leave.

“The distance to the summit is just 7km, so we have 1km in hand,” he said. “The cloud moves at 250km/h, which gives us 90 seconds. If that happens, and there is no escape, all you can do is use your instincts.”

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