by Monica Poling
Last updated: 9:49 PM ET, Sat September 16, 2017
An increase in seismic and volcanic activity at Bali's Mount Agung (Gunung Agung) has caused the regional disaster mitigation agency (BPBD) to raise the alert level from level 1 (normal) to level 2 (vigilance), reports news site Coconuts Bali. In total, volcanic activity is measured on a scale of 1 to 4.
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The agency is advising outdoor enthusiasts and locals to maintain a distance of at least 3 kilometers (1.8 miles) from the crater.
The warning comes after local trekking organization, They Sana posted a video of the volcano on Tuesday with the caption (translated), "Great mountain activity today. With the raging sulfur and the roar of a great mountain crater."
The video quickly viral on social media gaining more than 12,000 shares.
According to The Watchers News, a site dedicated to Earth-related global events, the fumaroles shown in the above video are normal. The "seismic swarm," however, where an area undergoes a number of earthquakes during a short period of time, is not normal for the area.
The mountain, one of Bali's tallest and most sacred, has apparently been rumbling for more than a month. According to the BPBD, there have been more than 99 "rumblings" during the period ranging from August to September.
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Mount Agung last erupted in 1963, when it killed more than 1,000 people and shot ash as high as 16 miles in the air, said the New York Times. The Watchers places that eruption as one of the "world's largest of the 20th century." It had a Volcanic Eruption Index of 5, making it roughly 10 times more explosive than that of Mount St. Helens (VEI of 4) and well surpassing that of Iceland's Eyjafjallajokull Volcano, which had a VEI of 2.
The BPBD has urged people to remain calm. The agency says it expects that the volcano will show even more seismic activity and there will be another increase in the alert level before or if Agung actually erupts.
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