No Indication of Massive Mount Agung Eruption: PVMBG

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Center for Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation (PVMBG) announced that Bali’s Mount Agung is currently held at level III alert status per Sunday, May 26, despite showing probable future eruption.

“[Mount Agung] potentially erupting still exists, but the level of dangers remain within the 4-kilometer parameter from the center of its crater,” said the Head of PVMBG Kasbani on Sunday.

Read: Bali Airport Cancels 9 Flights following Mount Agung Eruption

According to him, the indication of Bali’s famous volcanic mountain producing a large eruption has yet emerged. Kasbani stressed that the danger zone of a hypothetical major eruption will be isolated at the near vicinity of the mountain’s crater.

“Bali’s tourism is still safe,” he said.

The Meteorology, Climatology, and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) predicts that ash clouds from a possible future eruption will be displaced accordingly to the wind direction that is traveling at the speed of 8-36 kilometers per hour toward East-Southeast of Mount Agung.

However, the PVMBG recommends local residents and visitors to anticipate future circumstances by carrying face masks and staying off of areas of volcanic mudflow typically passing through valleys and rivers.

A video dated May 24, 2019, in social media showed the mountain erupting a lava fountain for 15 seconds from 19:30 Central Indonesia Time (WITA) and was followed by a lava flow.

ANWAR SISWADI (CONTRIBUTOR)