Since last Friday the island of Bali has been on high alert due to the awakening of Moung Agung.
Mt. Agung has only erupted 4 times in the last 200 years, and its eruptions are characterized as highly explosive and effusive. The last time it erupted was in 1963, and more then a 1000 people lost their lives and tens of thousands lost their economic livelihoods.
Recent seismic activity within the volcano indicates that pressure within is rising, forcing magma closer and closer to the surface. It is for this reason that the local authorities are taking the activity of the volcano very seriously, already evacuating at least 62,000 people who live within 12km of the crater.
UofN Bali is located approximately 70km southwest of Mount Agung, far outside the high risk zone. There is no need for us to evacuate and none of us have plans to do so – in fact we already have some staff and a DTS outreach team who have responded to serve the refugees in their camps.
We are continually monitoring the situation in order to best know how to respond, giving priority to the safety of our students and personnel but also considering how we can assist in this growing humanitarian crisis. We will do our best to continue to provide any relevant updates regarding this situation.
We greatly appreciate your prayers for us and for the people of our island. For information about how you can help financially with our aid response or in other ways, please email us at info@uofnbali.org , donate through our donation page or leave a message on our Facebook page.