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:
“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)
“The Settlement ... is an experimental effort to aid in the solution of the social and industrial problems which are engendered by the modern conditions of life in a great city. It insists that these problems are not confined to any one portion of the city. It is an attempt to relieve, at the same time, the overaccumulation at one end of society and the destitution at the other ...”
—Jane Addams (1860–1935)
“The three great problems of this century, the degradation of man in the proletariat, the subjection of women through hunger, the atrophy of the child by darkness.”
—Victor Hugo (1802–1885)