A small earthquake with a magnitude of 3.1 hit near Bali’s erupting Mount Agung volcano on Wednesday evening.
The earthquake struck at 7:17pm local time at a depth of 10 kilometers, northeast of Karangasem.
Berkaitan dengan gempa dirasakan Magnitudo 3.1 SR di Karangasem. Dimohon masyarakat yang masih di dalam radius 8-10 km dari puncak kawah agar mengungsi dengan tenang dan tertib. pic.twitter.com/DbM5Sf6KNH
— Sutopo Purwo Nugroho (@Sutopo_BNPB) November 29, 2017
Officials say the shake is associated with a buildup of magma in Mount Agung.
“The earthquake was a 3.1, tectonic earthquake that occurred to the movement of magma. With an earthquake of this magnitude, it means that Mount Agung is in a critical phase, so we must further increase our preparedness,” said Volcanology and Geological Disaster Mitigation Center (PVMBG) senior volcanologist Devy Kamil.
The Bali volcano’s eruptions became magmatic on Saturday, shooting ash up to 3,000 meters high in the sky, after several phreatic, steam-based eruptions the week before.
Agung continues to emit ash up to 2,000 meters high, as of Thursday.
Mount #Agung eruption continues to emit volcanic ash up to 2000 m high. The Status remains on Awas, IV. Ngurai Rai airport #Bali is normal. Lombok airport CLOSED until 24.00 o’clock on 30/11/2017. https://t.co/KrF4cgsRbj
— Dr Janine Krippner (@janinekrippner) November 30, 2017
The more quakes that Agung experiences and the higher magnitude they get, the greater the possibility that Mount Agung will blow its top in a larger eruption, according to Kamil.
“You must know, to produce such a tremor, would require a large volume of magma. Especially now that magma is already at the surface of the crater,” Kamil said.
“It’s a notable thing. If there is a quake around the volcano then there is a movement of magma that’s relatively large,” Kamil said from a Mount Agung monitoring post on Wednesday, as quoted by MetroTV.
Kamil explained that with an opening that’s developed at the volcano’s crater, magma can move more quickly to the surface.
“When it’s open, the movement can be faster.”
Experts have said they believe a larger, full-scale eruption is very possible given the way Mount Agung is acting up, but it could take days or even weeks to unfold.
PVMBG is appealing with the public to evacuate from the volcano’s exclusion zone, which was set at eight to 10 kilometers from the crater, since Agung’s alert status was upgraded to the highest level on Monday.
Located in Karangasem, 75 kilometers from the tourist hub of Kuta, Bali remains safe for tourism for those who stay outside of the exclusion zone–though ash has affected travel plans, causing the airport to shutdown nearly three full days until it reopened yesterday afternoon.
Officials have acknowledged difficulty in getting some people to evacuate, while other challenges posed include villagers returning home during the day to take care of their livelihoods–crops or livestock–in addition to thrill-seeking tourists sneaking into the red zone to get a better vantage point of the erupting volcano.
“People are urged to be ready and not do activities inside the radius that we have recommended,” Kamil said.
