On 9 November BNPB announced that they considered the eruptive activities of 2010 to have exceeded the activities of the mountains eruption in 1872. Based on historical records, the eruption of Merapi in 1872 was recorded for 120 hours, while the eruption of 2010 had already presented five days of relentless activity since Thursday 4 November and up until 8 November had erupted for more than 120 hours or more without pause. Subandriyo, head of the Volcano Investigation and Technology Development Institution (Balai Penyelidikan dan Pengembangan Teknologi Kegunungapian) (BPPTK) in Yogyakarta revealed that hot ash clouds during the eruptions of 138 years ago had a maximum reach of only , whilst the current eruptions were reaching .