Indonesia , a vibrant nation comprising of about seventeenthousand islands is home to some of the world’s most spectacular panaromas.
Nature has been mesmerized in the enchanting beauty of these splendidarchipelago, yet pays no mercy to its multi-cultural,multi-lingual -ethnic society which has been countering the nature’s hostility since theknown history.Amid the havoc of tsunamis, hurricanes & earth-quakes,Indonesia has remained in the spot-light for its gigantic volcanic eruptions.In Indonesia’s 127 active volcanoes, Mt. Agung is in news for its recentvigilance.
Mt. Agung is located in Indonesian’s most popular tourist destination,themagnificent Bali Island. Bali has been declared as the no.1 tourist attractionsite by the American prominent travel website TripAdvisor. It is also home tothe coral triangle that is about seven times as big as Caribbean and about 500reef building coral species can be found over here.
In other words ,it is theeconomic hub of the country. 80% of the Bali economy is dependent upon thetourist business. A slight change in the topography of the island not onlyeffects the locals but also disturbs the Indonesian economy. Mt.
Agung was previously erupted in 1963 which happened to be the mostexplosive eruption of the 20th century with gases, ashes & rocksejaculating upto 25km above the crater, causing death of more than 2000 people& a economic havoc. Some geologists believed it would have been in adormant state due to its recent mighty eruption of 1963.This year back in Sept., scientists were alarmed as some unusual seismicactivities were reported, according to David Pyle, a volcanologist inUniversity of Oxford, it was quite clear that new magma was uprising inMt.Agung.Earlier this week Bali’s governor indicated about 150000 people to evacuatedfrom around the Mt.Agung. The highest alert level by the Indonesian governmentwas issued concerning the increase in alert status of Agung volcano from level3 to 4.
Ashes cloud in the sky cancelled all flights to and from Bali. Volcano is in a critical phase with altering every minute. So far, Mt. Agungeruption is at highest alert level. However,Virgin Australia & AirlinesJetstar have resumed their services and declared the island safe totravel.While Indonesian government volcanologist says its crater is still aboutone-third filled by lava and there still exist a high risk of eruption.It would be challenging for Indonesian Natural Disaster Management Departmentto tackle these natural disaster including erupting in a frugal budget of$296m.
