On Monday, disaster authorities said nearly 50,000 people had fled their homes for fear of an imminent volcanic eruption on the Indonesian resort island of Bali.
Mount Agung, 75 km from the tourist center of Kuta, has been shaking since August and is threatening to erupt for the primary time in over 50 years.
The National Disaster Management Agency reported that 48,540 people fled, a number expected to rise as greater than 60,000 people lived within the danger zone.
“There are still individuals who are not looking for to evacuate,” agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said at a news conference. “First of all, the reason is that the mountain hasn’t erupted yet. Secondly, they are concerned about their livestock.”
On Friday, authorities announced the very best possible alert level after increasing activity on the volcano and ordered people to remain at the very least 9 km away from the crater.
The evacuees hid in temporary shelters or stayed with relatives.
About 2,000 cows were also moved from the slopes of the volcano.
Nengah Satiya left home along with his wife three days ago, but said he was returning to the danger zone to take care of his pigs and chickens.
“There are many farm animals in our village, but no one takes care of them,” he said on the evacuation center. “We take turns coming back to feed them.”
The Indonesian Center for Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation said tons of of volcanic tremors were still shaking the mountain.
“Sometimes the intensity increases, sometimes it decreases, it’s hard to say when the mountain will erupt,” senior volcanologist Gede Suantika said.
Mount Agung is certainly one of greater than 120 lively volcanoes along Indonesia’s Pacific “Ring of Fire.”
The last eruption occurred in 1963, killing greater than 1,000 people and sending ash so far as the capital Jakarta.
The mountain, Bali’s highest point, is a vital spiritual site for the Balinese, who’re mostly Hindus in Muslim-majority Indonesia.
Pura Besakih Temple, one of the vital vital temples on the island, situated just just a few kilometers from the slopes of the mountain, has been closed to visitors since Saturday.
The temple narrowly escaped destruction when molten lava fell from the mountain 54 years ago.
Religious leader Sumerti Jero from nearby Karangasem said he saw the mountain’s rumbling as an indication that it was offended at tourists disregarding local customs.
“For example, they were violating the ban on women having their periods climbing Mount Agung,” he said, adding that many tourists also urinated on the mountain.
Bali attracts tens of millions of foreign tourists to its palm-fringed beaches yearly and is a specific favorite with tourists from neighboring Australia.
A serious eruption would likely have significant effects on the tourism-dependent economy.
The airport in Bali’s capital, Denpasar, has made arrangements to redirect passengers to alternative hubs in neighboring provinces within the event of a mountain eruption.
However, authorities assure that the island is mostly protected.
“Bali is totally depending on tourism. I believe so long as planes can fly, tourism will probably be high-quality,” said Ketut Ardana, chairman of the Bali office of the Association of Indonesian Tourist Agencies.
Still, tour operators like Mangku, owner of Bali Trekking Tour, are watching it with interest.
“Some of our clients have canceled their trips. We understand it due to volcano,” he said.
Local tour operators say Hong Kong residents heading to Bali is not going to be affected by volcanic activity on the island.
A spokeswoman for Hong Thai Travel Services, certainly one of the town’s primary agencies, said tour arrangements weren’t affected.
Indonesia is amongst 20 countries or territories with an amber alert, the bottom level within the Hong Kong Security Bureau’s three-tier warning system. Visitors are advised to concentrate on potential hazards.
A spokesman for the Security Bureau said the federal government would proceed to observe the volcano’s activity.
This article appeared within the print edition of the South China Morning Post as: villagers still remain within the shadow of the Bali volcano
