Problems
Although studies at many volcanoes have led to a clear reduction in the risk faced by nearby settlements, eruptions at some of the Decade Volcanoes have demonstrated the difficulties faced by the programme. Eruptions at Mount Unzen which began shortly before it was designated a Decade Volcano were heavily monitored, but despite this, a large pyroclastic flow killed 43 people, including three volcanologists.
Later, a Decade Volcano conference in the city of Pasto, Colombia in 1993 ended in disaster when several of the scientists present mounted an impromptu expedition to the crater of Galeras. An eruption occurred unexpectedly while they were at the summit, which resulted in the deaths of six scientists and three tourists.
Another problem faced by the programme has been civil unrest in the vicinity of several volcanoes. The Civil War in Guatemala affected studies of Volcán Santa María until a ceasefire was called in 1996, while ongoing civil war in the Democratic Republic of the Congo has hampered studies of Nyiragongo volcano. More generally, scarce resources for volcano studies have led to programmes competing for limited funding.
Read more about this topic: Decade Volcanoes
Famous quotes containing the word problems:
“Our young people are diseased with the theological problems of original sin, origin of evil, predestination, and the like. These never presented a practical difficulty to any man,—never darkened across any man’s road, who did not go out of his way to seek them. These are the soul’s mumps, and measles, and whooping- coughs, and those who have not caught them cannot describe their health or prescribe a cure. A simple mind will not know these enemies.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“The man who is forever disturbed about the condition of humanity either has no problems of his own or has refused to face them.”
—Henry Miller (1891–1980)
“While the onset of puberty can vary by as much as six years, every adolescent wants to be right on the 50-yard line, right in the middle of the field. One is always too tall, too short, too thin, too fat, too hairy, too clear-skinned, too early, too late. Understandably, problems of self-image are rampant.”
—Joan Lipsitz (20th century)