“There’s no instrument in the world that can estimate precisely when there will be a major eruption,” said Syahbana, who runs an observatory monitoring the towering volcano, just outside a 10-km exclusion zone. Thousands stranded as Bali volcano alert raised to highest level“The difference between other volcanoes and Mount Agung is that there are no scientific records about previous eruptions here, only people’s experiences,” Syahbana said. In 1963, pyroclastic flows of lava and rocks poured out of the volcano, killing more than 1,000 people and razing dozens of villages. According to survivors, that eruption was preceded by earthquakes, volcanic mudflows, and ashfall– all signs that Mount Agung is showing again now, said Syahbana. An eruption is “usually a good time for the volcanology community to pull together and share their knowledge”, she said.

Source: The Express Tribune December 05, 2017 11:48 UTC