143 Mt Agung Evacuees Return To Their Village In Bali

Klungkung (Antara Bali) - Despite Mount Agung`s unchanged alert status, 143 evacuees at the Banjar Lebah command post in Basangkawan Village, Klungkung Bali District, decided to return to their village in Kyang Api, Muncan, Selat Sub-district, Karangasem District, Saturday.

"We did not tell them to return, but they left at their own will," I Putu Widiada, head of the Klungkung disaster mitigation office, noted here, Saturday.

The evacuees returning home comprised adults, seniors, and children. They decided to return home after their village chief said that their village is out of the disaster-prone area.

"We just helped facilitate their return," Widiada said. Two buses were deployed to transport the villagers to their homes.

Earlier, the Klungkung disaster mitigation office had facilitated the return of 121 people, or 36 families, to their homes in Benekasa, Muncan, Selat Sub-district, Bali Province, on Friday (Oct 6).

The number of evacuees whose homes are located in the safe zone reaches 1,794, spread across 43 villages, with 122 evacuation points in the district.

Earlier, the total number of evacuees in Klungkung District had reached some 20,227.

"Hence, a total of 18,443 evacuees are still living in the shelters," he stated.

He said the return of evacuees to their homes was carried out in line with a regulation stipulating that the evacuees can go back to their homes in the safe zone.

However, the local government has continued to receive evacuees whose homes were in the safe zone and who wanted to stay in the shelters.

He said his party had not compelled evacuees to stay in the shelters or to return to their homes.

"There is no compulsion, because if the evacuees want to stay in the shelters, they are allowed to do so. There is no compulsion to return the evacuees to Karangasem District," he remarked.

Meanwhile, the Center for Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation has established a safe zone outside the 12-kilometer radius of the mount.

A radius of six kilometers from the crater of Mount Agung is designated as disaster-prone area I, a nine-kilometer radius from the mount is identified as disaster-prone area II, and a 12-kilometer radius from the mount is demarcated as disaster-prone area III.(WDY)