Travelers to Bali could have their plans thrown into disarray with the Indonesian government preparing to evacuate parts of the island as a long-dormant volcano threatens to erupt.
Read about the chaos caused by 2014’s Mt Kelud eruption.
The Indonesia’s National Disaster Mitigation Agency has warned tourists and locals to stay 7.5 km away from the volcano which dominates the holiday island.
More than 10 million tourists visit Bali each year.
The warning, to level 3 out of a possible 4, is the second upgrade in a week and seismic activity is dominated with deep and shallow volcanic earthquakes, say Indonesian authorities.
According to Indonesia’s Antara news agency, the head of the Volcanology and Geological Disaster Mitigation Center Gede Suantika said that “volcanic tremors have already happened since in the middle of August 2017 but they then vanished before emerging again and since early in September it has continued to increase.”
He said on Sunday that tremor activities had reached 27 times on Friday increased to 73 on Saturday.
Mount Agung, which is about 70km from Kuta last erupted in 1963 killing almost 2000 people.
The most recent activity started in early August.
Dr Mary Gee, University of Western Australia Volcanic Geologist, said it was too early to tell if it would erupt but warned it could be “within half an hour” and could be “explosive.”
“Volcanoes are predictably unpredictable,” said Dr Gee.
“You need to be very, very careful.”
A spokesperson from the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said the Australian Government is monitoring reports of volcanic activity at Mount Agung in Indonesia.
“Australians in the area should monitor local media and follow the instructions of local authorities,” DFAT said.
The Bali Provincial Regional Disaster Management Agency has been told to develop contingency plans for the worst possible scenario of an eruption, reported Antara news agency.
The threat from the volcano is not only an eruption itself but an ash cloud that would result which could stop all flights for weeks depending on the severity of the eruption.
Since 1800, Mount Agung has had four mega-eruptions in 1908, 1823, 1843, and 1963.
