Bali’s angry mountain has tourists stranded as volcano threatens to blow
TOURISTS were stuck in limbo yesterday as an “imminent” eruption on the island of Bali saw more than 440 flights cancelled, with holidaymakers facing a night’s sleep on airport floors.
The panic began when Mount Agung spurted clouds of grey and white ash across the Indonesian island, prompting fears it was on the verge of its first major eruption in more than 50 years.
As the ash clouds reached heights of almost 10,000ft, with glowing magma visible at the peak, 40,000 people were evacuated from the surrounding area.
Disaster agency workers said that a total of 100,000 people would need to flee the area, while officials warned the island was on “maximum alert”.
In the early hours of yesterday morning, the airport’s closure was extended by a further 24 hours, as officials warned that the risk of an eruption had reached maximum level. “We’ve been here since around 8am, we didn’t know anything about the cancellation,” Janeen Mckay, 51, who was anxious to get back to western Australia where she cares for her 80-year-old mother, told The Daily Telegraph.
Several British tourists were also caught up in the chaos, among them Sarah Murphy, 40, and Tina Lucke, 31. After their Emirates flight to Gatwick via Dubai was cancelled, they were rebooked on to the next available flight out today – only for that flight to be grounded amid uncertainty as to when Denpasar International Airport would reopen.
The pair, who arrived on Bali on Nov 16, are staying in Padang Padang and are not near the volcano, which is in the east of the island. “Some other tourists I spoke to couldn’t get hold of their airlines so had no idea what was happening or when or how they would leave,” said Ms Murphy.
Indonesia’s Volcanology and Geological Disaster Mitigation Centre said the volcano’s eruptions were magmatic, meaning that lava has been forced to the surface, and warned those in nearby to flee saying “there’s a potential for a bigger eruption”.
The centre told Reuters a large eruption could throw rocks bigger than fists up to five miles and send volcanic gas to a distance of six miles within the first three minutes. Video footage showed trails of volcanic mud running down the hillside which can collect debris and destroy houses and roads.
What is it about volcanoes that fascinates and attracts humans? Mount Agung is spewing ash and debris over eastern Bali, requiring the evacuation of over 100,000 people, but around the world 750 million people live within 60 miles of these primal threats, and their capacity to spew fire from the belly of the Earth. Some have little option, while others depend on the rewards that the volcanoes can provide.
Of course, some people live on a volcano because they do not realise that it is active – this was the case for many islanders on Montserrat prior to the devastating 1995 eruptions. Others live near volcanoes because they are trapped by poverty, dependence on volcanic land, and poor governance – development is at the root of many disasters globally and reducing inequality is essential to taking people out of harm’s way.
Yet many perceive the benefits of living on volcanoes as outweighing the risks. After all, most erupt very rarely – some only every few thousand years or so. In the context of a human lifetime, this is a relatively fleeting threat. On political timescales, it is even more so.
Fertile land, mining resources, geothermal energy and a thriving tourist industry – the benefits of living on active volcanoes can be many. Furthermore, volcanoes are often striking landscapes – and so can be unrivalled symbols of place.
Take Chaitén volcano, in Chile, which erupted in 2008 for the first time on record. The town of Chaitén was evacuated for months, and the government wanted to relocate it permanently a few miles along the shore of the lake on which it sat. Some residents were happy to relocate, but a substantial number resisted. Though they had watched the volcano almost completely destroy their town, they still wanted to return. After a long stand-off with the government they were allowed to rebuild – albeit on slightly higher ground. Their determination was driven by community and familiarity; a sense of home.
Lack of choice and rich rewards can come hand in hand. In some countries there are relatively few areas that are wholly safe – think of Japan, Chile and Indonesia, all of which sit on large fault lines with chains of volcanoes and the risk of earthquakes. Naples – wedged between Vesuvius and Campi Flegrei – faces the same dilemma. The city is among the most dangerous places in the world for volcanic hazard in terms of exposed population, but Neapolitans do not only look upon their volcanic neighbourhood with trepidation, they also see it as the source of substantial tourist revenue (Pompeii and Herculaneum are major attractions, as are the mountains themselves), and as fundamental to the history of the region.
No wonder so many volcanoes are associated with belief systems. On Mount Merapi, in Indonesia, a local guardian communes with the spirits of the mountain, and his role is to maintain harmony between the local sultan, the mountain and the sea. His predecessor was killed in a 2010 eruption.
Volcanoes might seem obvious dangers. Yet many communities who know them best also know that, despite the risk, they owe them their very existence.