Just in case the world wasn’t getting bashed enough by natural disasters at the moment, here’s this: Bali‘s Governor has urged locals to remain calm amid growing fears a fairly hefty volcano on the island is on the verge of an eruption event.
Authorities in the area have increased the evacuation zone around Mount Agung to 7.5 kilometres, after seismic activity on the mountain increased fairly significantly on Monday, leading officials to up the volcano warning level to 3, which is very high. An alert level of 4 means that an eruption event is imminent, so this is fairly serious business.
Officials have closed off public access areas around the mountain, including hiking trails, due to the possibility of seismic activity triggering the release of dangerous gasses from underground.
The threat of eruption also has potential to impact tourism throughout the region, with the September school holidays scheduled to begin across the nation from the end of this week.
The volcano itself is a mere 70km from Kuta, and any volcanic ash released by the erupting mountain would likely wreak havoc on air travel throughout the greater Balinese region.
Bali Governor Made Mangku Pastika stated that tourists should follow advice from officials and hotel staff, and assured people in the area that while the “cannot avoid [an eruption], we can’t stop it exploding but we can reduce the number of victims and loses,” before stating “If you have to evacuate, you evacuate.”
As of Wednesday, flights in and out of Denpasar are running as normal, but those who plan to travel to Bali in the immediate future are urged to remain alert and contact their airline in the event that the situation escalates.
Mount Agung last erupted in 1963, killing more than 1,000 people.
