The Indonesian National Disaster Mitigation Agency said more than 96,000 people have now fled the area around Mount Agung in the northeast of the island as the volcano continues to rumble. Villagers began leaving in the middle of last week and the number of evacuees has swelled daily since Friday, when the Mount Agung volcano’s alert status was raised to the highest level. The agency said a monitoring centre had recorded more than 800 earthquakes so far and thin smoke was observed rising 50 meters above the crater. The volcano Mount Agung last erupted in 1963, killing more than 1,100 people, and remained active for about a year. Agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said the chances of an eruption are “quite big”, although experts can’t predict when with certainty. The people who have fled the volcano Mount Agung are scattered across Bali in more than 400 different locations including temporary camps, sports centres and other public buildings. In Karangasem district, volunteers were helping with classes for some of the thousands of children whose schools within the exclusion zone around the volcano are now closed. “So far the children look happy and are enjoying themselves,” said volunteer Yenni Ariyanti. “They do not look worried or sad. Hopefully we can continue to maintain their excitement and keep them in good spirits.” The Ministry of Transport says it’s ready to deploy 100 buses to take stranded tourists off Bali if an eruption forces its international airport to close. Mount Agung, about 70 kilometres to the northeast of the tourist hotspot of Kuta, is among more than 120 active volcanoes in Indonesia. Indonesia, an archipelago of thousands of islands, is prone to seismic upheaval due to its location on the Pacific “Ring of Fire,” an arc of volcanoes and fault lines encircling the Pacific Basin. Check out about Mount Agung on Wikipedia HERE

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