Some 28 Villages Prone To Mt Agung Disaster

Pewarta :

Some 28 Villages Prone To Mt Agung Disaster

Karangasem (Antara Bali) - According to the monitoring of the Center for Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation (PVMBG), a total of 28 villages in Karangasen district, Bali Province, are located within the Disaster Prone Area of Mount Agung eruption, Governor Made Mangku Pastika remarked here on Sunday.

The governor said the determination of the Disaster Prone Area was established on the basis of scientific studies and analyzes by competent persons so that their validity can be trusted.

Pastika further denied the issue that the local provincial government as if evicted the refugees and forced them back to their homes. The government only recommends the residents to return to the activity because it is guaranteed if the safe zone will not be affected if Mount Agung really erupted.

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 Agung`s exclusion zone.

For example, some signs read "you are at nine-kilometer radius from Mount Agung`s peak," while some others bear other warning and advice.

BNPB has also stationed six mobile sirens around the mount after the volcano`s 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 mount`s 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 Agung`s eruption, he explained.(WDY)
Editor: I Gusti Bagus Widyantara
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