Volcanic Impacts + Responses

• Short term responses

  • Evacuation of people at risk
  • International aid
  • Deployment of emergency services
  • Aid from with the country sent to the area
• Long term responses

  • Storage of emergency food, water and supplies
  • Alert systems
  • Creation of hazard maps to aid evacuation
  • Risk management
• Preparing for an eruption

  • Monitoring gas emissions
  • Ground deformation
  • Thermal monitoring
  • Seismic activity
  • Satellite images + remote sensing
  • Mass movements and mass failures
• Monitoring gas emissions

  • Main gas is sulphur dioxide
  • Gas levels drop rapidly a few hours prior to eruption
  • An increase in gas quantity can signal the start of volcanic activity
• Ground Deformation

  • Magma moving in the lithosphere can deform the ground above
  • Volcanoes swell prior to an eruption due to a gathering of magma
• Thermal Monitoring

  • Magma movement and changes in gas release altar
  • Magma heats up ground water
• Satellite images + Remote sensing

  • Monitors changes in volcanoes from the surface
  • Images can be used to compare to previous times
• Mass Movement + Mass failures

  • Movement of land can happen before, during or after
  • Can show evidence of past activity and suggest if deformation is happening
• Seismic Activity

  • An increased frequency + intensity of earthquakes can signal an imminent eruption
  • Detected by seismometers producing seismographs