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)
143 Mt Agung Evacuees Return To Their Village In Bali
Pewarta : Reported by I Made Surya 7 Oktober 2017 18:50 WIB