Thousands of evacuees have been urged to return to their homes before Mount Agung has erupted. Image: Screenshot
For the last few weeks, Bali’s Mount Agung has been threatening to erupt. Authorities have been closely monitoring it, and 144,000 people have been evacuated. But now, just one day after a massive crack appeared in the crater, the Indonesian government is urging more than half of the evacuees to return home.
The last time Agung erupted was over 50 years ago. In 1963, it killed 1100 people and threw ash six miles into the air. At the time, however, there was no system in place to record what the volcano did in the days leading up to the eruption, so authorities are struggling to understand exactly how dire the situation on Bali is.
“If an eruption occurs, there is considerable disaster potential,” warns MAGMA, Indonesia’s volcano monitoring body. “People around Mount Agung also do not have enough experience to face the eruption because this volcano last erupted … 54 years ago.”
Authorities have set up an exclusion zone that extends eight miles around the crater. That, they say, is the area most likely to be devastated by lava, hot ash, and something called lahars, which are powerful mudflows that occur when huge amounts of rock and dirt combine with water. They are some of the most destructive events that occur after an eruption.
A hot lahar rushes down a river valley in Guatemala near the Santa Maria volcano, 1989. Photo: Wikimedia Commons
But Bali’s governor has announced that people leaving villages that are “safe” from the volcano–villages outside that exclusion zone–are taking supplies and shelter away from evacuees who actually need it.
“Those who live outside the danger zone, we urge them to go back home and carry on with their daily lives,” said Putu Widiada, head of the disaster mitigation agency in Klungkung district south of the volcano where some 22,000 people have fled. “We are trying to identify those who lived outside the danger zone.”
Although there are reports of many of the evacuation camps being overburdened, when the Associated Press visited them, everything was peaceful and many of the evacuees were content.
“I will stay here for as long as it takes,” said Suryani, a mother of two who lives inside the exclusion zone. “They are treating us well. I don’t want to go home if the mountain hasn’t exploded yet.” Suryani feels for those who’ve been told to return to their homes, despite the fact that the volcano hasn’t yet erupted. “If it’s not safe yet, they should allow them to stay,” she said to the AP. “We can stay here together so they’re not in danger.”
