50,000 evacuate homes in Bali amid volcanic eruption fears

BALI — Nearly 50,000 people have evacuated their homes amid fears of an imminent volcanic eruption on Bali, disaster officials said yesterday.

Mount Agung, about 75km from the tourist hub of Kuta, has been rumbling since last month, threatening to erupt for the first time in more than 50 years.

Indonesia’s disaster mitigation agency said yesterday that 48,540 people had fled, although the number was expected to rise because more than 60,000 people lived in the danger zone.

“The chances of an eruption are very high, but we cannot be sure when it will erupt,” said Mr Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, a spokesman for the agency.

However, not everyone has left the danger zone.

“There are still people who don’t want to be evacuated. The reason is firstly, the mountain hasn’t erupted yet. Secondly, they are worried about their livestock,” said Mr Nugroho. “Officers continue to sweep the area and are appealing for people to evacuate.”

Officials announced the highest possible alert level on Friday following the increasing volcanic activity, and told people to stay at least 9km away from the crater.

Evacuees have packed temporary shelters, sports centres, village halls or moved in with relatives or friends. Some have even crossed to the neighbouring island of Lombok.

Hundreds of thousands of face masks will be distributed in Bali as part of government humanitarian assistance that includes thousands of mattresses and blankets.

Some 2,000 cows have been also evacuated from the flanks of the volcano.

But some people still return to the danger zone, which extends up to 12km from the crater, during the day to tend to livestock.

Mr Nengah Satiya, who left home with his wife three days ago, said he had been returning to tend to his pigs and chickens.

“There are many livestock in our village but nobody is taking them,” he told AFP. “We take turns going back to feed them.”

The airport in Bali’s capital Denpasar, through which millions of foreign tourists pass every year, has not been affected. Officials also have said there is no immediate threat to tourists, but some are already cutting short their stays in Bali.

“It’s obviously an awful thing. We want to get out of here just to be safe,” said an Australian woman at Bali’s airport who identified herself as Miriam.

More than 1,000 people died when the 3,031m Mount Agung last erupted in 1963, hurling ash high as 20km and remained active for about a year.

Lava travelled 7.5km and ash reached Jakarta, about 1,000km away.

Indonesia is prone to seismic upheaval due to its location on the Pacific “Ring of Fire”, an arc of volcanoes and fault lines encircling the Pacific Basin.

Mount Agung is among more than 120 active volcanoes in the country. AGENCIES