Bali's volcano began erupting today

After two months of waiting it has finally happened. Please don't panic however as it is currently just a plume of smoke thought to contain only a small amount of the ash which can potentially harm people. The above picture was taken just before nightfall.

The eruption began just six hours ago.

It is classified as 'phreatic' meaning that it was a steam-driven explosion which occurs when the water beneath is heated by molten rock and forces its way out.

The wind direction is currently south/south east but should that change to south west there will be many more people affected. Including myself!

In this image you can see the exact location of our highest peak, Mount Agung from which there is currently a 700m high smoke plume.

The official alert status remains at level 3 as there have not been any corresponding earthquakes. Level 4 is the highest.

I saw with my own eyes a beautiful view of Agung this morning at 8am on a flight from Bali to Kuala Lumpur. There was no smoke at this time and all appeared calm. I have just returned to Bali an hour ago so I can confirm the international airport is still open.

Of the 150,000 people who were evacuated only around 30,000 remained...

so many of these people will now be returning to the shelters.

The @charitysteemit account was set up two months ago by @chron and myself with the intention of helping the evacuees by buying them solar panels and water filters. We have raised so far a total of $464.45. Sadly this total has dropped substantially due to the current slump in the value of Steem.

I will be keeping you up to date on exactly what is happening from the @charitysteemit account now, so please take the time to follow there if you want to know what is going on.

Now that the number of evacuees is set to rise dramatically we will be spending this money as was intended.... as soon as possible.

Thank you so much to all those who have already donated 🙏🏻

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