Volcano fright
Bali villagers seek shelter at evacuation centres from the ‘smoking’ Mount Agung, which killed 1,100 people when it last erupted in 1963.
BALi: Thousands of villagers on the Indonesian resort island of Bali were sheltering in sports centres, village halls and with relatives, fearing Mount Agung will erupt for the first time in more than half a century.
Authorities raised the volcano’s alert status to the highest level on Friday following a “tremendous increase” in seismic activity. It last erupted in 1963, killing 1,100 people.
Villager Made Suda said he left with 25 family members to stay in the Klungkung sports centre.
“I feel grief and fear ... (I) feel sad about leaving the village and leaving four cows because it’s empty. Everyone has evacuated,” he said yesterday.
The National Disaster Mitigation Agency said no-one should be within 9km of the crater and within 12km to the north, northeast, southeast and south-southwest where lava flows or rapidly moving whitehot ash clouds from an eruption could reach.
Waskita Sutadewa, spokesman for the disaster mitigation agency in Karangasem district around Mount Agung, has said nearly 11,300 villagers have been officially evacuated.
He said the real number of dis- placed might be two or three times that, since many have voluntarily fled their homes.
Officials have said there is no current danger to people in other parts of Bali, a popular tourist island famous for its surfing, beaches and elegant Hindu culture.
“I hope the eruption is not too big and hopefully not many houses are destroyed,” said Wayan Yuniartini, who left his village on Friday night with family members.
“I was very worried last night,” he said.
“At 11.30pm we said ‘we have to leave’ and many other people in our area were also leaving.”
The mountain, 72km to the northeast of the tourist hotspot of Kuta, is among more than 120 active volcanoes in Indonesia. — AP