Community and Authority Response to Volcanic Eruptions

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Table of Contents

Introduction
Location of buildings
Reluctance to evacuation
Economy preference
Distrust with investigations conducted and public ignorance
Conclusion
Works Cited

Introduction

Volcanic eruption is one of the natural phenomena that pose a lot of threats to the public. However, the eruption may at times be beneficial to the country and community living around as it may attract tourists. For many years, there have been numerous fatalities resulting from volcanic eruptions. Those who escape the death, have suffered other ailments due to being exposed to volcanic ash and other toxic gases that accompany volcanic eruptions. With the world having the capacity to predict and determine the volcanic activity of most mountains, there have always been early warnings to people and the government for a potential volcanic eruption.

This is vital to help society, as well as the government, prepare for ways to evacuate people from the area before the actual eruption takes place. However, despite there being early warnings of volcanic eruptions, the community living in these areas has not taken the dangers of the eruption seriously. The authorities in these areas have also been found to be reluctant in addressing the matter. This is concerning the structure and location of buildings, government and society response to crisis after eruptions, and others.

Location of buildings

The dangers of volcanic eruptions call for people to locate their buildings away from mountains that are identified as volcanic active. The fact that it is difficult to predict the exact date and time that the mountain is likely to explode, underlines the need for people to situate their buildings away from the mountain to avoid being trapped. This has not been the case in most countries where there are mountains identified as volcanic active.

People have gone to an extent of building living houses at the foot of these mountains. This has predisposed them to the dangers of being trapped in case of volcanic eruptions. Despite the scientists warning of signs of volcanic activity in these mountains as well as the dangers of the eruption, people have not taken heed to protect themselves (Alexander 67). The government and other authorities in these regions have also taken no measures to ensure that people are safe. With most people daring to take risks to enrich themselves, they are likely to construct and operate businesses in any region. This calls for the government to come up with regulations to curb this habit.

Because of the dangers of volcanic eruption, the government needs to come up with regulations governing people on how and where to construct their buildings in areas identified to be volcanic active. This has not been the case. People have been left to construct their buildings whenever they feel to best suit them making them vulnerable to these dangers. The ignorance from the society, as well as other authorities responsible for responding to emergencies, led to the loss of life during the Mt. St. Helen eruption.

The mountain having been identified as volcanic activity, required the agents responsible for responding to such catastrophes to be always prepared to avoid cases of damages resulting due to poor response after the eruption. Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and Department of Emergency Services (DES) ought to ensure that it was always prepared to respond to any tragedy (Chester, Angus, Wetton & Wetton pp. 168-196). This is by ensuring that they always have the required resources, funds, and expertise needed to deal with a volcanic eruption. Ignorance from the management and government at large led to these departments being caught unprepared after the eruption.

Despite the public and government learning serious lessons from the eruption, still, some of the leaders in the United States government seem to take the issue lightly. This is evident by remarks from Louisiana governor Bobby Jindal who argued that there was no need for the government to invest heavily in monitoring volcanic activities in Alaska. The sentiments have come at a time when Redoubt Mountain which is one of the volcanic active mountains is expected to erupt. Despite the economic hardships and fatalities that resulted from volcanic eruptions in the country twenty years ago, Jindal still seems not to take the dangers of volcanic eruptions seriously.

Reluctance to evacuation

Before and after a volcanic eruption, people are requested to evacuate the affected area in fear of further eruption and health hazards posed by gases emitted during the eruption. Most of the gasses are said to be corrosive and they corrode eye tissues. In addition, some gases emitted during a volcanic eruption are poisonous if inhaled. To avoid these problems, it calls for all people to evacuate the affected areas. These gases and ash may remain in the air for a long period.

Going back to the affected area a few days after evacuation may not help in preventing some of the health hazards caused by eruptions. Even after people being informed about the health implications of volcanic eruptions, they have been reluctant to evacuate the affected areas. It has led to the government going to an extent of applying force to make people leave the area. After leaving, people have been found to take limited time before going back to their homes (Chester pp. 319-328). This has been the case even in the recent eruption that occurred in Iceland. Poor conditions in refuge places have been attributed to the desire by people to go back to their homes after evacuation.

The authorities have not been serious in considering other dangers accompanied by volcanic eruption such as respiratory problems, social disruption, and disease outbreaks. As a result, no measures are usually taken to ensure the well-being of the evacuated persons leading to most of them going back to their homes shortly after the evacuation exercise.

Economy preference

Volcanic eruptions lead to most of the economic activities in the affected areas being brought to a halt. No trade goes on with people fearing further eruptions. This affects the country and the society adversely especially those that rely on trade. After the volcanic eruption in Iceland, flights that use that route were suspended. This led to trade between different countries coming to a stop. People and countries complained of their products expiring due to them being unable to access the market. With people wishing to enrich themselves, they have ignored health hazards resulting from the eruption and went on with their trade.

For instance, after airline companies in Iceland and other places realized the loss they were incurring they called the suspension and resumed their activities event without being guaranteed that it was safe for them to embark on their normal activities (Forsloff 432). Some pilots even undermined the implications of flying planes across the cloud of ash in the air and argued that they could fly below the cloud and still go on with their business as usual.

Despite people being warned that the mountain may have further eruptions in the future, people have taken the opportunity to visit them and take photos to sell later. Event after people being evacuated, they have all returned b to their homes and are making visits to the site. There have been warnings that toxic fumes that were emitted in the air are still in there and inhaling them would lead to respiratory problems.

However, people have not taken the issue seriously. They are making frequent visits to the site even without ensuring that they have worn protective gears and carried artificial oxygen to ensure that they do not inhale fluorine, sulfur, and carbon dioxide gas that is still in the air (Lavigne et. al pp. 273-287). There is a presence of lava flow in Hrunagil but this is not deterring people from visiting the mountain. The fact that it is long since a volcanic eruption occurred in the region has made most of the people take the initiative of visiting the site without putting into consideration the dangers they expose themselves to.

Distrust with investigations conducted and public ignorance

Over time, there have been rumors of certain mountains facing volcanic eruptions only to find that they do not occur. This has led to the public not being serious with the given results. People have been found to evacuate their homes and come back a few days later once they realize that the mountain is taking a long to erupt. For instance, there were rumors that Mt. Kelud in Indonesia showed signs of erupting (Masel-Walters, Wilkins & Walters 129).

The signs were very precise with water in crates lakes fount on top of the mountain becoming extremely hot. There was the presence of gases on top of the mountain as well as the occurrence of several earthquakes. People even claimed that the top of the mountain had started changing its shape in preparedness for eruption. After people were informed of the danger, they were reluctant to evacuate the place. As a measure by the government to avoid fatalities and other damages in case of an eruption, troops were sent to the scene to forcefully evacuate the residents. However, with time, the eruption failed to occur leading to the government declaring that the place was safe for people to go back home.

Currently, the mountain is not being monitored due to ignorant from the government and the society around the area (Tobin & Whiteford 28-48). The fact that it is difficult to predict the exact time when the mountain will erupt poses the society in great danger of being caught unawares.

Despite Indonesian mountains being known for volcanic eruptions, people have gone to an extent of living on their slopes in a bid to use their fertile volcanic soils in planting. Even after being warned that the mountain is likely to erupt, these people are found to be unwilling to leave their crops. Some people in the country have survived various volcanic eruptions. To them, they consider themselves as capable of protecting themselves from the dangers of a volcanic eruption.

These people are never willing to evacuate from the mountain till the actual eruption takes place (Wallace-Hadrill pp. 311-337). To mitigate damages resulting from a volcanic eruption, the Indonesian government has been found to actively draw off water from crater lakes on top of the mountain as well as dig tunnels around the mountain to divert lava flow. They have overlooked the fact that the eruption may lead to the emission of hot ashes and other toxic gases into the air posing a threat to the public. Their action has been used by people in the area to justify their reasons for not leaving their homes.

Another incidence that brought out the level of ignorance among the people living in volcanic-prone areas is the Pompeii eruption. Despite people having seen and warned of eruption, it caught them unprepared. People went on with their daily activities paying no attention to the mountain even after seeing smoke appearing at the top of the mountain.

Conclusion

Fatalities and property damage resulting from volcanic eruptions are attributed to the high level of ignorance among society and authorities on the dangers of volcanic eruptions. Despite people being warned of volcanic active mountains, they still go to an extent of building their homes on the slopes of these mountains. The government and other authorities responsible for addressing emergencies have been reluctant to equip their staff with the necessary expertise and resources.

This has led to them not effectively responding to eruption emergencies. After realizing that a certain mountain is about to erupt, society declines to take the initiative of evacuating the place. There are instances where people were forced to evacuate their homes by troops. The need by people to continue with their economic activities has led to them ignoring the dangers of eruptions. After evacuation, the society is found to go back to their homes even before they are assured that the place is secure.

Works Cited

Alexander, David. Confronting catastrophe: new perspectives on natural disaster. England: Terra Publishing.

Chester, David, Angus, Duncan, Wetton, Philip & Wetton, Roswitha. “Response of the Anglo-America military authorities to the eruption of Vesuvius, 1944.” Journal of Historical Geography, 33.1 (2007): 168-196.

Chester, David. “Theology and disaster studies: The need for dialogue.” Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research, 146.4 (2005): 319-328.

Forsloff, Carol. “Jindal vs. the volcano reveals Louisiana governor’s ignorance.” Digital Journal, (2009).

Lavigne, Franck, Coster, Benjamin, Juvin, Nancy, Flohic, Francois, Gaillard, Jean-Christophe, Texier, Paulline, Morin, Julie & Sartohadi, Junun. “People’s behavior in the face of volcanic hazards: Perspective from Javanese communities, Indonesia.” Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research, 172.3 (2008): 273-287.

Masel-Walters, Lynne, Wilkins, Lee & Walters, Tim. Bad tidings: communication and catastrophe. New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc., Publishers.

Tobin, Graham & Whiteford, Linda. “Community resilience and volcano hazard: The eruption of Tungurahua and evacuation of the Faldas in Ecuador.” Disasters, 26.1 (2002): 28-48.

Wallace-Hadrill, Andrew. Houses and Society in Pompeii and Herculaneum. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1994.

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