Until now the volcanic activity of Mount Agung is still high. The highest volcano in Bali is still in a critical phase. Blow of smoke is still coming out of the crater.

This indicates that the potential for eruption will still occur. This was revealed by Head of Mitigation Division of Volcano Monitoring of Eastern Region PVMBG, Devy Kamil Syahbana, Sunday (17/12).

Devy Syahbana revealed, until this moment the activity of Mount Agung is still quite high. Blow of white and gray smoke with the intensity of thin to medium and high 1000 meters above the peak of the crater is still observed. Based on the data per last 12 days occurred as many as 21 times the blow, Low Frequency 5 earthquake, Volcanic In 4 and Local Tectonic 1. Its means effusive and gas eruptions and smoke emissions still occur and indicate that there is still energy pressure in the body of Mount Agung. "The blast of smoke inclines towards the West in the direction of the wind. Meanwhile, duing the night its possible to observe glow at the top, "he said.

He explained, in terms of lava volume, at the bottom of the crater, there is no significant change. Small possibilities of lava can meet the crater in a short time if the rate of increase is still like today. "The largest rate of lava growth occurs in the period 25-30 November 2017, within 5 days lava that came out about 20 million cubic meters or about one-third of the volume of the crater. And until now the growth is slowing down, "he said He said it was working with aeroterrascan to fly the drones again to monitor the crater visually and try to measure the gas to know the evolution of the magmatic gas concentration over time, whether it tends to decrease, tend to remain (fluctuate), or tend to rise after the eruption a few days ago.

He said, on the first Drone flight was already getting results. It's just that with only one point it can not determine whether the trend of gas has increased, fluctuating or decreased effusive eruption.

"To be sure, we need to take some samples of this gas. We will still analyze the gas content generated from the several recording times we obtained using the drones. Includes in addition to the latest results. "Explained Devy Syahbana.

Text by Eka Parananda / balipost