Mount Agung is still erupting, but the Bali volcano’s seismic activity appears to be going down, according to the Indonesian Volcanology and Geological Disaster Mitigation Center (PVMBG).
The seismicity of Mount Agung is relatively low, PVMBG director Demy Kamil said on Friday.
“Mount Agung’s seismic activity can be interpreted as relatively low, indicating the movement of magma to the surface is more dominant (activity) than earthquakes,” Kamil told Antara Bali from the volcano observation post in Rendang Village.
The volcano is still set up to erupt, but the scale of eruptions should not be more intense than the vivid Strombolian blast we saw on Monday.
“The eruptions occurring later are not expected to be greater than the scale of the eruption that occurred this past week,” Kamil said.
Based on data from thermal satellites, there are still hot spots in Agung’s crater.
“It indicates that hot material above the crater still exists,” he explained.
Mount Agung’s alert status persists at “standby,” level III, the second highest level. An exclusion zone encompassing a four-kilometer radius from the volcano’s crater has been imposed, according to PVMBG’s recommendations.
Over 2,000 local residents ave evacuated from the erupting volcano, which had gone quiet for several months.
Before stirring back to life last year, Mount Agung last erupted in 1963, killing around 1,600 people.
