bali’s mt. agung shows some rumbling activity

Mt. Agung, Bali’s tallest volcano, has been showing activity with some rumbles, but we shouldn’t be too worried just yet, say authorities.

A video of the activity, accompanied by photos taken at the crater, was posted to Facebook yesterday by They Sauna (Mount Agung Trekking). The post has gotten over a thousand shares in just over 24 hours.

“Activity at Mt. Agung today. Increasingly violent sulfur fumes and roaring sounds from the crater of Mt. Agung,” the video was captioned.

But apparently the volcano has already been making small rumblings for the past month and no alert has been raised at this time, with trekkers still hiking up the mountain daily.

“Yesterday there were 100 people went up. Today, there were also more,” said Pura Pasar Agung spokesman, I Wayan Suara Arsana.

Monitoring results from August to September recorded Agung rumbling as much as 99 times, says head of the Karangasem Regional Disaster Mitigation Agency (BPBD), Ida Bagus Ketut Arimbawa.

“It is true that for the past month there has been an increase in activity with small rumblings several times, but the condition of Mt. Agung is still normal. It’s safe for climbers looking one, to two days ahead. But be careful and vigilant,” Arimbawa told Tribun Bali on Thursday.

Arimbawa added that Agung will remain under close surveillance to monitor for changing conditions.

Agung’s last eruption was 1963.