Tens of thousands flee rumbling Bali volcano as tremors grow in magnitude
More than 34,000 people have fled from a rumbling volcano on the resort island of Bali as the magnitude of tremors grew, prompting fears it could erupt for the first time in more than 50 years.
Indonesia’s disaster mitigation agency said yesterday that the number of people fleeing their homes near the volcano had tripled since Friday amid alarm that Mount Agung could erupt at any moment.
“The evacuation process is ongoing and we expect the number of evacuees to continue to rise,” said agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho.
The volcano, the highest point in Bali and about 75 kilometres from the tourist hub of Kuta, has been rumbling since last month.
Officials announced the highest possible alert level on Friday after the increased volcanic activity, and urged people stay at least 9km from the crater.
“I am very worried to leave, I left my cows and pigs at home because we were ordered to vacate our village immediately,” said Nyoman Asih, who fled with her entire family.
The international airport in Bali’s capital, Denpasar, was anticipating the prospect of closure but no flight schedules had been affected as of yesterday.
The airport has prepared buses and trains to divert passengers to alternative hubs if the mountain erupts.
Flight disruptions because of drifting ash clouds are not uncommon in Indonesia.
Last year more than two dozen flights to the resort island of Lombok, which neighbours Bali, were cancelled owing to a drifting ash cloud from erupting Mount Rinjani.
Bali officials said the island was still safe but urged tourists to stay away from tourism spots within the danger zone.
Pura Besakih temple, one of Bali’s most prominent temples and just a few kilometres from the mountain, has been closed to visitors since Saturday.
The Indonesian centre for volcanology and geological hazard mitigation said tremors had grown more powerful yesterday.
“The mountain has not erupted. The earthquakes are happening less frequently but the magnitude is getting stronger,” said Gede Suantika, a senior volcanologist at the agency.
Indonesia has about 130 volcanoes because of its position on the Ring of Fire, a belt of tectonic plate boundaries circling the Pacific Ocean where frequent seismic activity occurs.
The volcano agency’s chief, Kasbani, said Mount Agung had a history of major eruptions that eclipsed recent episodes in Indonesia, including the 2010 eruption of Mount Merapi in central Java that killed at least 350 people. The 1963 eruption of Mount Agung killed more than 1,000 people and devastated many villages.
The 2010 Merapi eruption, which also forced hundreds of thousands of villagers to flee, was that mountain’s biggest since 1872 but was still 10 times smaller than Mount Agung’s 1963 eruption.