SECTION EDITOR PHOTO EDITOR: Jeanne M. DePaul Barry Kough [email protected] D [email protected] (208) 848-2221 (208) 848-2217 Suundaynday A.M.A.M. Twitter: @JeanneDePaul THE LEWISTON TRIBUNE SUNDAY, DECEMBER 10, 2017

BELOW: Ash clouds rise from Mount Agung, a volcano erupting in Karangas- em, , . RIGHT: Houses are covered in from the Mount Agung ashfall at Bebandem village in Bali. FAR RIGHT: A villager in Karangasem leads his cows to a fi eld with Mount Agung volcano erupting behind him.

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Remembering its 1963 eruption, Bali’s elderly living near Mount Agung remain wary of another By STEPHEN WRIGHT AND WAYAN NAMBI OF THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

LUNGKUNG, In- donesia — Bali’s glowering Mount Agung has seemingly qui- eted since hurling Khuge columns of ash from its crater a week ago, but some vil- lagers on the Indonesian island who survived the catastrophic 1963 explosions believe a big- ger eruption is coming. Ash plumes have dissipated recently though an online seis- mogram from the mountain’s monitoring post resembles a crazed abstract painting, indi- cating the tremendous forces churning within. Explosions from the smoking crater and tremors still rattle the surrounding region and authorities have maintained Agung’s alert at the highest level. Its 1963 eruptions killed about 1,100 people. “The situation now is almost the same,” said Nengah Tresni, who was 12 when Agung erupt- ed in 1963. She recalls being at Clouds of ash from the Mount Agung volcano are lit with warm sunset light in Karangasem, Bali, Indonesia. The ash forced evacu- one of the Hindu temples that ation of an area extending 6 miles from the volcano as it belched volcanic materials into the air. dot the volcano’s slopes and the sky suddenly turning dark as she left with her family. “I’m sure there will be a big erup- tion. It is just a matter of time,” said Tresni, who came with fam- ily members last week to an aging sports center that’s serving as cano is just about to erupt an evacuation camp after officials told again,” he said. them to leave their village. More than 55,000 people “In the old eruption many people did are living in shelters such not expect it to be big because there as sports halls, temples were small eruptions for a long time and tent camps since of- LEFT: Tourists Mariano Gonzales and his wife Elisa enjoy a view in Karangasem, Bali, where and villagers just went to the temple to ficials expanded the no-go pray,” she said. area around the volcano the ash is less intense. ABOVE: Ketut Wiri works in a fi eld in Karangasem. Thousands have It’s the second time Tresni has fled last week. Many centers heeded offi cial warnings and fl ed the ash-belching volcano on tropical Bali but others have to the camp since September, when appear well organized, but stayed near its ominous slopes or even run toward them. the 3,140-meter (10,300-foot) volcano one visited by Associated burst into life after more than half a Press reporters in Rendang Photos by the Associated Press century of inactivity. Officials lowered district Dec. 2 was tightly the volcano’s alert level at the end of packed and muddy from October and most of the 140,000 people caused by the eruptions. two months later “so activity can stop the frequent rains. Tourists who were He compared the recent months of and start again,” said Handley. who had evacuated returned home. It stranded when the idyllic island’s air- escalating danger signs from Agung At the muddy Rendang camp, bare- proved to be a brief respite. port closed for nearly three days have with 1963. chested 77-year-old Nyoman Arse “I actually didn’t want to go back rushed to leave. Scientists agree the danger remains remembered the 1963 disaster in great because I thought there would be big Nyoman Merta said that after the eruptions, but my family wanted to go 1963 eruption, he and his family walked though making an exact prediction is detail and was unperturbed by Agung’s home,” she said. “And now we’re refu- for three days from their village before difficult if not impossible. ash eruptions in the past week. gees here again.” authorities picked them up and took “At all volcanoes we can expect fluc- Recalling events when he was 24, Nyoman Siki from a village high on them to an evacuation camp. tuations in activity. This does not mean Arse said the mountain sent out ash for the volcano’s slopes was 6 or 7 years “I was 9 years old but I can remem- that the threat is over,” said Heather a month and then exploded about the old in 1963 and remembers it being ber many people still stayed. There Handley, a volcanologist at Sydney’s same time as Galungan, an important said that 200 people from his area were were no warnings like now and maybe Macquarie University. “It is clearly still religious celebration in majority Hindu killed. But he was philosophical about that was why many people were killed in an active phase.” Bali that in 1963 fell in mid-March. the situation. When people returned then,” he said. In the 1963 eruption, there were “I saw the rocks coming down the a year after the eruption, he said they The family stayed in Denpasar in small ash explosions in February fol- mountain with a very loud noise,” he were happy because it had renewed the the south of Bali for a year. When they lowed by a flow and then a large said, imitating crashing sounds. “The fertility of the land. returned home, he said, their house explosive eruption on March 17, she rocks were huge,” he said. “What’s hap- “After years of cultivation, the vol- was uninhabitable because of damage said. A second major eruption occurred pening now is still nothing.”