Volcanic Activity Of Mt Agung In Bali Increasing

Amlapura (Antara Bali) - Volcanic tremor activity of Mount Agung in the district of Karangasem, Bali, has been on the increase since early this month.

"Actually 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," head of volcanic mitigation of the Volcanology and Geological Disaster Mitigation Center of the Geological Agency of the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources, Gede Suantika, said here on Sunday.

He explained on Friday (Sept 15) tremor activities of the mountain reached 27 times and increased to 73 on Saturday.

From 00.00 to 12.00 hours on Sunday the number of volcanic tremors was recorded reaching 50 times.

The mountain is still under alert status and people are appealed to not conduct activities within a radius of three kilometers, he said.

He said his office would keep monitoring the a tivity and studying data available to update information to the public.

He sad he had also informed Karangasem district head I Gusti Ayu Mas Sumantri and other officials concerned to inform the public to remain calm and alert with regard to the mountain`s activity.

Head of the regional disaster mitigation office, Dewa Indra, has also called on the people not to be worried and follow givernment instruction.

"They must follow information from official sources so that they will not be misled," he said.

He said if the mountain`s activity continued to rise the public will be informed and so they would have time to pack up and evacuate. (WDY)