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INDONESIA-BALI-VOLCANO
Bali’s Agung volcano spews ash in fresh eruption
JAKARTA, Dec 30, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – A volcano on the Indonesian holiday
island of Bali erupted Sunday, belching ash high into the air and over nearby
villages as officials warned tourists to keep clear of the area.
Mount Agung has been erupting periodically since it rumbled back to life in
2017, when it grounded hundreds of flights and left 120,000 visitors
stranded.
On Sunday morning, the volcano — which is about 70 kilometres (44 miles)
from the tourist hub of Kuta — sent ash skywards as it erupted for about
three minutes, according to the country’s volcanology centre.
“Residents near Mount Agung as well as climbers and tourists should not
carry out any activity in the danger zone or within four-kilometre radius
from the crater,” the centre said in a statement.
On December 22, an eruption from Anak Krakatoa triggered a tsunami which
hit the western tip of the neighbouring island of Java and southern Sumatra,
killing at least 426 and leaving more than 7,000 injured.
In the latest eruption, several villages on Bali were covered in a thin
layer of ash but no smoke or lava was detected coming from the crater and no
evacuation has been ordered.
The volcanology centre also warned residents near rivers in the area to be
on alert for cold lava flows — a type of mudflow that can form from rock and
ash in the rainy season and which is often a prelude to the blazing orange
lava of popular imagination.
In June, dozens of flights were cancelled after Agung erupted and shot a
fresh plume of smoke and ash more than 1,000 metres (3,300 feet) into the
sky.
Agung’s last major eruption in 1963 killed around 1,600 people. Indonesia
is the world’s most active volcanic region and lies on the Pacific “Ring of
Fire” where tectonic plates collide, causing frequent volcanic and seismic
activities.
BSS/AFP/SSS/1524 hrs