part 2. notable disasters of 2014: volcanic eruptions

NOTABLE EVENTS AND DISASTERS OF 2014

HIGHLIGHTS OF VOLCANIC ERUPTIONS

VOLCANIC ERUPTIONS

are awesome manifestations

of heat flowing non-

explosively as a result of

mantle hot spots (e.g., Hawaii

and Iceland) or erupting

explosively in subduction

zones (e.g., the Pacific Rim).

ELEMENTS OF VOLCANIC

HAZARDS AND RISK

HAZARDS

ELEMENTS OF RISK

EXPOSURE

VULNERABILITY LOCATION

RISK

LOCATIONS OF ACTIVE

VOLCANOES

VOLCANO HAZARDS

CAN HAVE FAR REACHING IMPACTS

• VERTICAL PLUME (can affect

jet aircraft)

• ASH AND TEPHRA

• LATERAL BLAST

• PYROCLASTIC CLOUDS,

BURSTS, AND FLOWS

VOLCANO HAZARDS

CAN HAVE FAR REACHING IMPACTS

• LAVA FLOWS

• LAHARS (can bury villages)

• EARTHQUAKES (related to

movement of lava)

• “VOLCANIC WINTER” (causing

famine and mass extinctions)

LATERAL BLAST

VOLCANIC

ERUPTIONS

PYROCLASTIC FLOWS

FLYING DEBRIS

ASH PLUME AND

GASES

LAVA FLOWS

LAHARS

TOXIC GASES

CAUSES

OF RISK

CASE HISTORIES

AIRLINES ON RED ALERT

AFTER VOLCANIC ERUPTION

IN ICELAND

August 23, 2014

BARDARBUNGA ERUPTS

WHAT HAPPENED?

• After a week of seismic activity

rattled the uninhabited area 200

miles (320 kilometers) east of the

capital of Reykjavik with thou-

sands of earthquakes, Iceland's

Bardarbunga volcano began

erupting Saturday (Aug. 23rd) under

the country's largest glacier.

WHAT HAPPENED?

• An Iceland volcanologist said it

was not clear when, or if, the

eruption would melt through the

ice — which is between 100 and

400 meters (330 feet and 1,300 feet)

thick — and send steam and ash

into the air.

WHAT MIGHT HAPPEN?

• She said it could take up to a

day for the ice to melt — or the

eruption might remain

contained beneath Europe's

largest glacier.

OFFICIALS TAKE ACTION

• On Saturday, Icelandic authorities

declared a no-fly zone of 100 nautical

miles by 140 nautical miles around the

eruption, but did not shut down flights

in the rest of the country's airspace.

Officials Remembered the

Eruption of the

Eyjafjallajökull Volcano in

Southern Iceland

MARCH 20, 2010

The 2010 eruption of Iceland's

Eyjafjallajokul volcano

produced an ash cloud that

caused a week of international

aviation chaos, with more than

100,000 flights cancelled.

VOLCANIC ERUPTION IN JAPAN

Saturday, September 27, 2014

MOUNT ONTAKE

ERUPTS AFTER 35 YEARS

OF DORMANCY

ONTAKE, ONE OF 100 ACTIVE

VOLCANOES IN JAPAN, ERUPTED A

LITTLE BEFORE NOON ON

SEPTEMBER 27, 2014

MOUNT ONTAKE: SATURDAY,

SEPTEMBER 27, 2014

MOUNT ONTAKE: SATURDAY,

SEPTEMBER 27, 2014

MOUNT ONTAKE: SATURDAY,

SEPTEMBER 27, 2014

PHYSICAL IMPACTS

• With a sound likened to thunder,

the 10,065 foot (3,067 m) high

volcano spewed large white

plumes of gas and ash high into

the atmosphere and blanketed the

top and surrounding area with

volcanic debris and ash reaching

thicknesses of 50 cm or more.

MOUNT ONTAKE COVERED WITH ASH

MOUNT ONTAKE COVERED WITH ASH

LOCAL IMPACTS

The mountain is a popular climbing

destination, and an estimated 303 people

were initially trapped on the slopes.

At least 36 were killed; most made their

way down by Saturday night, but the

injured, unable to descend the 10,062-

foot mountain on their own, stayed in

mountain lodges.

HIKERS RETURNING: SATURDAY,

SEPTEMBER 27, 2014

HIKERS RETURNING: SATURDAY,

SEPTEMBER 27, 2014

INJURED HIKERS HAD TO TAKE

REFUGE IN ASH-COVERED LODGES

SATURDAY: INITIAL S AND R WITH

HELOCOPTERS

THE REST OF THE STORY

• On Sunday, a large plume of ash

continued to rise from the ash-covered

summit of Mount Ontake.

• A convoy of red fire trucks, sirens

blaring, rescue workers on foot, and

helicopters headed into the restricted

zone around the mountain for search

and rescue operations.

SUNDAY: BEGINNING OF S AND R

OPRATIONS

MOUNT ONTAKE: SUNDAY,

SEPTEMBER 28, 2014

SUNDAY: S AND R WORKERS

GOING THE WRONG WAY

Sunday: Rescue workers

had to suspend S and R

operations due to toxic

gases and volcano-induced

seismic activity

MONDAY: RESCUE WORKERS ABLE

TO REACH ASH-COVERED TOP

MONDAY: RESCUE WORKERS ABLE

TO REACH ASH-COVERED TOP

A HORRIFIC SCENE

• Rescue crews found harrowing

situations near the mountaintop;

the typical scenes were of victims

buried in ash with their arms and

legs emerging from gray volcanic

dust, or of bodies pressed between

rocks where they were trying to

find shelter.

Tuesday: SAR operations

were suspended as Mount

Ontake continued shaking

violently and coughing out

toxic steam.

DEATH TOLL REACHED 36

AT LEAST 69 INJURED

LAVA FLOW—A SILENT

VOLCANIC HAZARD IN HAWAII

Thursday, October 30, 2014

Monday, November 10, 2014

LAVA FLOW MOVING AT 5 M PER

HOUR TOWARDS PAHOA

WHAT HAPPENED?

• The lava from Kilauea, a non-

explosive volcano, that has been

erupting for years, emerged from a

vent in June.

• Traveling slowly, it entered Pahoa

on Oct. 26, when it crossed a

country road at the edge of town.

LAVA FLOW FROM KILAUEA CONTINUES

ITS ADVANCE TOWARD PAHOA

PAHOA HAWAII

• A contingent of National Guard

troops was dispatched to Pahoa on

Thursday, October 30, to provide

security to the Big Island

community that was being

threatened by the slow-moving

river of molten lava creeping

slowly towards the town's center.

WHAT HAPPENED?

• The leading edge of the molten rock

stalled at the edge of town on Oct. 30,

but lava began to break away at several

other upslope spots..

• Between October 30 and November 10,

the flow smothered part of a cemetery,

and burned down a garden shed, tires,

some metal materials, and vegetation.

Monday, November 10, 2014

LAVA FLOW ARRIVES AND SETS FIRE

TO FIRST HOUSE

WHAT HAPPENED?

• The 200 degree molten rock set fire to

the first house in Pahoa around midday

on Monday, November 10th .

• The house was allowed to burn as

firefighters took actions to prevent its

spread to other houses.

• The home's occupants had already left

the residence.

WHAT IS NEXT?

• Officials were working on safe

evacuation routes and plans.

• Many residents had evacuated.

• Having put their belongings in

storage, others were prepared to leave

for a friend’s house, or elsewhere, if

necessary when the lava got closer.

THE REASONS FOR A

DISASTER TO OCCUR. . .

• The community is UN-

PREPARED for what will likely

happen, not to mention the

low-probability of occurrence—

high-probability-of-adverse-

consequences event.

THE REASONS ARE . . .

• The community has NO DISASTER

PLANNING SCENARIO or

WARNING SYSTEM in place as a

strategic framework for early threat

identification and coordinated

local, national, regional, and

international countermeasures.

THE REASONS ARE . . .

• The community LACKS THE

CAPACITY TO RESPOND in a

timely and effective manner to

the full spectrum of expected

and unexpected emergency

situations.

THE REASONS ARE . . .

• The community is INEFFICIENT

during recovery and

reconstruction because it HAS

NOT LEARNED from either the

current experience or the

cumulative prior experiences.

LEARNING FROM GLOBAL

VOLCANIC-- ERUPTION

DISASTER LABORATORIES

WHAT MAKES THESE 11

VOLCANOES DANGEROUS

• Eyjafjallajökull

and Katla

(ICELAND)

• Chaiten

• Krakatau

• Merapi

• Vesuvius

• Pinatubo

• Mount Rainier

• Nevada del Ruiz

• Popocatepl

• Nyirangongo

(CONGO)

ELEVEN OF THE WORLD’S

NOST DANGEROUS

VOLCANOES

THE NEXT ERUPTION OF THESE 11

ACTIVE VOLCANOES IS LIKELY TO BE

DEVASTATING LOCALLY, REGIONALLY,

AND GLOBALLY

LOCATED NEAR CITIES AND

INTERNATIONAL AIRLINE ROUTES

An eruption of any one of these

eleven volcanoes is certain to be

devastating to people, their

property, their health, the

economy, and, sometimes, the

regional air space.

COMMUNITYDATA BASES

AND INFORMATION

HAZARDS:GROUND SHAKING

GROUND FAILURE

SURFACE FAULTING

TECTONIC DEFORMATION

TSUNAMI RUN UP

AFTERSHOCKS

•HAZARD MAPS

•INVENTORY

•VULNERABILITY

•LOCATION

RISK ASSESSMENT

RISK

ACCEPTABLE RISK

UNACCEPTABLE RISK

VOLCANO DISASTER

RESILIENCE

•PREPAREDNESS

•PROTECTION

•EMERGENCY RESPONSE

•RECOVERY and

RECONSTRUCTION

POLICY OPTIONS

THE KEYS TO RESILIENCE: 1) KNOW THE ERUPTIVE HISTORY OF

YOUR REGION’S VOLCANOES,

2) BE PREPARED

3) HAVE A WARNING SYSTEM

4) EVACUATE

5) LEARN FROM THE

EXPERIENCE AND START OVER