Warnings after climb to crater
INDONESIA: Balinese authorities have warned anyone who visits the peak of Mt Agung volcano is putting lives at risk after a group of priests trekked to the smouldering summit to make offerings.
One of the priests, Jero Mangku Ada, told Fairfax Media a god spoke to him when he was staying at an evacuation centre in Puri Boga and told him to go up and make an offering.
The National Disaster Management Agency has repeatedly urged people to stay away from danger with signs marking an exclusion zone of between nine and 12 kilometres from the summit.
‘‘That zone is forbidden, that is very dangerous,’’ spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said. ‘‘If a sudden eruption happened, we won’t know if there’s anyone there. There could be a sudden eruption, earthquakes, landslide, poisonous gas and other dangers. The danger is not for them alone but also the search and rescue team who would have had to rescue them.’’
Videos, taken by another priest, of roaring pillars of steam rising from a crater have been posted on Facebook. They have attracted thousands of comments and shares, with some criticising the priests for being irresponsible and others sending their blessings.
Ada said the government was right to warn people to stay away. If another human had ordered him to go to the peak he said he would have refused even if he was offered the equivalent of three cars.
‘‘We were not there to pose or be daredevils,’’ Ada said. ‘‘We had already evacuated as per the instruction of the government. But I was requested to make an offering and I did just that because I want the people of Bali to be safe.’’
Photos of the trek show another cross-legged priest, with sajen, the Balinese word for offerings, placed next to him on a rock. Ada said the birds were still chirping on the mountain and he had seen plenty of monkeys.
The hiking boot-wearing priest, his long silver-flecked hair in a ponytail, said the steam smelt of sulphur and he was frightened by the noise. ‘‘When I heard the sound like a wave I was scared. If I was not told to go up there by something higher up than the government I would not have gone up there.’’
Ada provided Fairfax Media with photographs he took of himself and other priests at the peak of the volcano. Metadata on the photos show they were taken on Friday morning.
Made Sutama, a police officer from Besakih, an area in the danger zone, urged the public not to copy the actions of the priests.
‘‘It is not just us who forbids it. It is everybody. BNPB (National Disaster Management Agency), police, armed forces, the government, everybody forbids it,’’ Sutama said. However, he said the priests would not be arrested because they had not committed an actual crime.
The agency’s deputy director for early warning, Bambang Surya Putra, said it would evaluate the protection and security system for locals. ’’Once the highest alert status was imposed [on September 22] there should have been no-one within the nine kilometre zone.’’
By Saturday, 143,840 refugees had fled Mt Agung amid warnings an eruption could be imminent.
However, Bali Governor I Made Mangku Pastika said some of the refugees were from villages outside the danger zone and did not need to evacuate. - Fairfax