Jakarta, Indonesia (CNN) -- Thousands of ash-covered people bolted for cover and rescuers transported the fearful elderly to safety Friday as Indonesia's Mount Merapi belched ash clouds and gas over the last 24 hours.
It's being called Merapi's largest eruption so far, unleashing ash clouds and gas that have reached villages in areas many thought were safe from the volcano's eruptions.
The latest eruption Friday killed at least 69 people and injured 77 others, hospital officials said. All totaled, up to 113 people have died since Merapi began erupting on October 26.
Local TV showed men, women and children fleeing from their homes on motorcycles and trucks. Rescuers carried elderly people to safety. Evacuees huddled in a stadium, government buildings and schools.
The childen's charity Plan International has launched an appeal to help 20,000 people fleeing the mountain.
"It's raining volcanic ash and rocks," said Nono Sumarsono, acting country director of Plan International. "Small rocks can reach nearly 10 miles away and ash 20 miles.
"Its booming explosions are keeping people on alert day and night," Sumarsono said.
"The danger zone has been widened and a large influx of displaced people are coming further down to new evacuation centers," he said.
"People were fleeing in panic and only have what they could carry," Sumarsono said.
He said there is an urgent need for food, water, mats, blankets, hygiene kits and that the group is distributing blankets, mats, and hygiene kits. It is working on getting emergency latrines and setting up temporary schools for children.
The danger zone was expanded to 20 kilometers (12 miles) after Friday's eruption reached villages once believed safe, and nearly 75,000 people have been evacuated, according to Indonesia's National Disaster Management Board.
Rescue teams scoured villages and found burned bodies inside homes. Body bags were lined up at a hospital morgue, where, doctors say, it will take some time to identify people.
Thousands of meals were being provided by relief agencies to evacuees who continue to be on the move as the ash cloud spreads. Yogyakarta city, about 30 kilometers south of Mount Merapi, is bracing for an influx of thousands.
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono called the volcano a "crisis situation" and said he would travel to the area Friday.
Yudhoyono instructed the military to assist relief efforts by building facilities and field hospitals in the area and he coordinated ordered the Coordinating Ministry for People's Welfare, which oversees several ministries, to coordinate faster and more efficient relief.
The president announced that residents will receive compensation for livelihoods and animals lost to the eruptions. The government will buy endangered cows on the volcano, he said. Many of those who live on its slopes raise cattle and risked their lives by staying or returning to feed their cows.
Residents on the volcano have repeatedly evacuated, but then returned to check on their houses and livestock and fled anew with each fresh eruption. Because of rains, geological officials are warning residents and evacuees not to go to areas within the danger zone or near rivers.
Rainfall can convert volcanic ash to mudflow or lahar. There have been reports of mudflow headed down riverbeds on Merapi's slopes.
The 3,000-meter (9,800-foot) Merapi is famously unpredictable. An eruption killed two people in 2006 and another killed more than 60 villagers in 1994. About 1,300 people died when Merapi erupted in 1930.
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