Volcano fears rise in Bali
Thousands forced to flee and holiday-makers stranded as alert raised to highest level
INDONESIA closed the airport on the tourist island of Bali yesterday and ordered 100 000 residents living near a grumbling volcano spewing columns of ash to evacuate immediately, warning that the first major eruption in 54 years could be imminent.
The airport was closed for 24 hours from yesterday morning, disrupting 445 flights and 59 000 passengers, after Mount Agung, which killed hundreds of people in 1963, sent volcanic ash high into the sky, and officials said cancellations could be extended.
“Plumes of smoke are occasionally accompanied by explosive eruptions and the sound of weak blasts that can be heard up to 12km from the peak,” the Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) said after raising the alert from three to its highest level of four.
“The potential for a larger eruption is imminent,” it said, referring to a visible glow of magma at Mount Agung’s peak overnight, and warning residents to evacuate a danger zone at a radius of eight to 10km..
A BNPB spokesman said there had been no casualties so far and 40 000 people had left the area, but tens of thousands still needed to move.
Video footage shared by the agency showed volcanic mud flows (lahar) on the mountainside.
Lahar carrying mud and large boulders can destroy houses, bridges and roads in its path.
Bali, famous for its surf, beaches and temples, attracted nearly five million visitors last year, and its airport serves as a transport hub for the chain of islands in Indonesia’s eastern archipelago.
But tourism has slumped in parts of Bali since September when Agung’s volcanic tremors began to increase and the alert level was raised to maximum before being lowered last month when seismic activity calmed.
“I’m really worried. Maybe I’ll go somewhere south that I think will be safe to avoid being trapped by the ashfall,” Maria Becker, a German tourist staying in Amed, about 15km from the volcano, said.
Agung rises majestically over eastern Bali to a height of just over 3 000m.
Northeastern Bali is relatively undeveloped compared to the more heavily populated southern tourist hub of Kuta-Seminyak-Nusa Dua.
Indonesia’s Vulcanology and Geological Disaster Mitigation Centre (PVMBG), which is using drones, satellite imagery and other equipment, said predictions were difficult in the absence of instrumental recordings from the last eruption 54 years ago.
In 1963, an eruption of Agung killed more than 1 000 people and razed several villages by hurling out pyroclastic material, hot ash, lava and lahar.
Recordings now showed the northeast area of Agung’s peak had swollen in recent weeks indicating there was fairly strong pressure toward the surface, PVMBG said.
It warned that if a similar eruption occurred, it could send rocks bigger than fist-size up to 8km from the summit and volcanic gas to a distance of 10km within three minutes.
Some analysis, however, suggests the threat should not be as great this time because energy at Mount Agung’s magma chamber is not as big and the ash column only around a quarter as high as the 20km reached in 1963.
The Bali airport is about 60km from the volcano.
Ten alternative airports have been prepared for airlines to divert inbound flights, including in neighbouring provinces.
Virgin Australia Holdings Ltd said it was cancelling flights, while Jetstar was offering to exchange Bali bound tickets for other destinations.
Television footage showed hundreds of holidaymakers camped inside the airport terminal, some sleeping on their bags, others using cellphones.
“We have been here [in Bali] for three days and were about to leave, but just found out our flights have been cancelled,” Carlo Oben, from Los Angeles, said.
“We have no information because the gates, the check-ins, have been closed indefinitely.”
Cover-More, Australia’s biggest travel insurer, said customers would only be covered if they had bought policies before the volcano alert was first issued on September 18. – Reuters
We were about to leave, but our flights have been cancelled