VOLCANIC ERUPTIONS:

POTENTIAL MEGA-DISASTERS IN SLOW MOTION

Based on Evaluations by the Smithsonian Institution Stimulated by the Current Ongoing

Eruptions of Mount Merapi in Indonesia

OCTOBER 25 - NOVEMBER ?, 2010

Walter Hays, Global Alliance for

Disaster Reduction, University of North Carolina, USA

Mount Merapi’s current eruptions in 2010, which started on October 25th, have caused a mega-disaster in slow motion with no end yet in

sight

MOUNT MERAPI, INDONESIA (CREDIT: JESSE ALLEN)

The wind blows the ash from Mount Merapi westward, where it rains

down from the sky, scorching the earth, and crushing the vegetation

(e.g., tropical fruit trees such as mangosteens, rambutans and snake

fruit grown by local farmers), …

---causing healthcare problems (e.g., smoke inhalation, burns,

amputations, skin problems, cuts, other injuries) for millions,….

… destroying habitats and livelihoods, disrupting air traffic and business as usual, displacing over 250,000 people, and killing over 218

people.

At present, November 13th 2010, life for people living near Mount Merapi and in

evacuation camps is dangerous and difficult, and it could continue that way for

a long time..

Subandriyo, a government vulcanologist in Yogyakarta, estimates that Mount Merapi,

Indonesia's youngest volcano, has disgorged approximately 4.6 billion cubic feet of rocks, sand, dust and

gas between October 25th and November 13th.

FIVE OTHER DANGEROUS VOLCANOES CAPABLE OF

CAUSING SLOW-MOTION DISASTERS

SANGAY, ECUADOR

STROMBOLI, ITALY

MT. ETNA, ITALY

MOUNT YASUR, VANUATU

SANTA MARIA, GUATEMALA

SANGAY, ECUADOR

Sangay’s steep-sided volcanic cone, which reaches a height of 17,158 feet (5,230 meters), has

been characterized by:1) a historical eruption in 1628, 2)

more or less continuous eruptions from 1728 until 1916, and 3)

continuous eruptions again from 1934 to the present.

STROMBOLI, ITALY

The island of Stromboli, off the west coast of southern Italy and the

north coast of Sicily, is the tip of a massive underwater volcano that

has been erupting nearly continuously in a “Strombolian” explosive mode for over 2,000

years.

MT. ETNA, ITALY

Mount Etna, currently around 10,958 feet (3,340 meters) in height

and the largest active volcano in Europe, has erupted around 200

times, including a huge eruption in 1969 and another eruption in 2001

that generated lava flows that almost reached Nicolosi

MOUNT YASUR, VANUATU

Mount Yasur, an active volcano on Tanna Island and a part of the

archipelago nation of Vanuatu in the South Pacific, has been erupting

nearly continuously for over a century with strombolian- type

eruptionsk, often occurring several times an hour.

SANTA MARIA, GUATEMALA

Santa Maria, a 12,375-foot (3,772-meter) tall stratovolcano, had a

catastrophic eruption in 1902, one of the largest eruptions of the 20th

century, that caused severe damage throughout southwestern

Guatemala