Condition of Mt Agung remains unstable

Karangasem (Antaranews Bali)- The condition of Mount Agung located in Karangasem District, Bali Province, remains unstable and likely to erupt again with low intensity, according to Devy Kamil Syahbana of the Center for Volcanology and Geology Disaster Mitigation (PVMBG).

"The condition of Mount Agung remains unstable. But, the eruption potential would be relatively small, because we hope that the magma inside the volcano is not significant," the head of the sub-department of volcanology mitigation observation in eastern Indonesia, said here, Saturday.

The PVMBG has declared the alert status of Mount Agung at third level and ordered people to say away from the radius of four kilometers from the mountain`s top.

"People living outside the four km radius zone are called on to remain calm," he said.

The volcano on Saturday morning spewed white cloud up to 200-300 meters to the atmosphere.

"Geochemically, we measure recorded gas of 400 tons per day, compared to 1,000 tons per day on the previous days," he said.

Meanwhile,the Association of the Indonesian Tours and Travel Agencies (Asita) believes that the tourism industry in Bali is not affected by the strombolian eruption of Mount Agung.

Based on the experiences during the past eruptions of Mount Agung in June, the eruption on Monday (July 2) will not have an impact on the tourist arrivals in Bali, Ketut Ardana, chairman of Asita Bali, stated on Thursday.

Tourist arrivals in Bali remained normal despite the strombolian eruption, he remarked, citing facts that tourist destinations in nine districts of Bali, such as the Kuta Beach and Pandawa Beach, were still crowded with domestic and foreign tourists.

He noted that the Center for Volcanology and Geological Disaster Mitigation (PVMBG) announced that the danger zone stretched a radius of four kilometers (km) from the mountain`s top.

"Hence, it has no effect on tourism in Bali, which has set a target of attracting 6.5 million foreign tourists this year," he emphasized.

He is optimistic that tourism in Bali remains unaffected, as the danger zone is only within the four-km radius of Mt Agung`s crater, while the rest of Bali is safe. (WDY)