TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) has installed 54 warning signs at the perimeter of Mount Agung amid fears that the volcano could erupt for the first time in over 50 years.
Head of Data and Information Center of BNPB, Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, stated in a telephonic conversation here on Saturday that the signs are installed as notifications for people about their whereabouts with reference to Mount Agungs exclusion zone.
For example, some signs read "you are at nine-kilometer radius from Mount Agungs peak," while some others bear other warning and advice.
BNPB has also stationed six mobile sirens around the mount after the volcanos status increased to alert level IV or Awas.
Nugroho remarked that the sound of the sirens can be heard as far as two kilometers, alerting people present in the area.
"They are not for detecting the mounts eruption but functioning as a danger signal," Nugroho explained.
The sirens are installed at several local police stations and district military commands (koramil) of Bali.
The local authority has also conducted socialization for residents, traditional leaders, and religious leaders, as well as local government agencies on the danger of volcanic eruption and on disaster mitigation.
Nugroho pointed out that Mount Agung could spew pyroclastic flow, a fast moving current of hot gas and volcanic matter, which reaches speeds moving away from a volcano up to 300 kilometers per hour.
However, there has been no visual sign of Mount Agungs eruption, he explained.
The alert status of the mount was raised to the highest level on Friday evening (Sept 22), following a significant spike in seismic activity.
The Governor of Bali has instructed the evacuation of around 70 thousand residents from 27 villages that are located within the exclusion zone.
As of Saturday, about 143,840 residents have been taking refuge in 471 camps in nine districts of Bali.
ANTARA
