World
Residents Flee as Bali Volcano Rumbles
Tens of thousands evacuated from the red zone around the Mount Agung Volcano in Bali as hundreds of tremors are recorded daily.
A Balinese man watches the Mount Agung volcano covered with clouds at a temple in the Karangasem district of Bali, Indonesia on Sept. 26, 2017. Warnings that a volcano on the Indonesian tourist island will erupt have sparked an exodus of more than 100,000 people, the country's National Disaster Mitigation Agency said.
Villagers began leaving in the middle of last week and the number of evacuees has swelled daily since Friday, when the volcano’s alert status was raised to the highest level.
The agency also noted that a monitoring center had recorded more than 800 earthquakes so far Wednesday and thin smoke was observed rising 160 feet above the crater.
The volcano last erupted in 1963, killing more than 1,100 people, and remained active for about a year.
Evacuee children sit on a truck as they head off to a temporary school on Sept. 27 in the 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.”
An elderly person sits in a sports center that was made into a temporary shelter on Sept. 27 in the Klungkung district.
The people who have fled the volcano are scattered across Bali in more than 400 different locations including temporary camps, sports centers and other public buildings.
