[3] Agung erupted in 1843,[5] as recorded in a report by Heinrich Zollinger: "After having been dormant for a long time, this year the mountain began to be alive again.

On February 18, 1963, local residents heard loud explosions and saw clouds rising from the crater of Mount Agung.

On February 24, lava began flowing down the northern slope of the mountain, eventually traveling 7 km in the next 20 days.

On March 17, the volcano erupted (VEI 5), sending debris 8 to 10 km into the air and generating massive pyroclastic flows.

[10] During the eruptions and earthquakes, the wreck of the US transport ship, USAT Liberty, which had been grounded at nearby Tulamben during World War II after being torpedoed by a Japanese submarine, slipped off the beach and settled totally underwater.

The frequency and intensity of these quakes caused much alarm among seismologists, as similar volcanoes have historically been known to erupt with even fewer warning signs.

A phreatic eruption took place, with the ash cloud top reaching 3,842 metres (12,605 ft) above sea level.

[18] Thousands of people immediately fled the area,[19] and over 29,000 temporary refugees were reported to be housed in over 270 locations nearby.

[20] The resulting eruption plume was reported to rise about 1.5–4 km above the summit crater, drifting towards the south and dusting the surroundings with thin layer of dark ash, leading some airlines to cancel flights bound for Australia and New Zealand.

[27] In late May 2019 an eruption spewed lava and rocks over about 3 km, with some ash falling on nearby villages and temporarily interrupting international flights.