Tungurahua erupting in an undated AP photo (although I think it is the current 2010 activity.)
It hasn't really made it to much of the English-speaking news, but the current eruptive activity at Tungurahua appears to be on the up-tick. Hugo Yepes of the Geophysical Institute of Ecuador suggests that a larger eruption is not out of the question (link in spanish), but right now the activity is confined to explosions (vulcanian?) and ash fall around the region, specifically on Pillates and Choglontus overnight (2/1) from the ~ 2 km / 5 000 foot plume. Looking at the specifics (link in spanish), the Geophysical Institute is reporting 32 explosions, 30 long-period seismic events and 20 episodes of volcanic tremor in the last 24 hours. Government officials have issued a number of warnings for people living near the volcano and began preparation for evacuations. You can listen to Hugo Yepes report here (in spanish).
One of the few articles in English media regarding Tungurahua was a report about the difficultly of getting people to evacuate in these situations. We've heard this before, where people don't want to leave their home/farm because thieves will steal their meager possessions and livestock. Now, that might seem crazy to you and me, to be (as one of the commenters on the article says) more worried about possessions than life, but many of the residents of this area in Ecuador live a very scant existence, so losing their livelihood (such as their animals) is tantamount to, well, death.
{soapbox}This is where the rose-colored glasses of Americans and Europeans is most maddening - these people literally have nothing if they lose their home or livestock. It is not like they have insurance on their home, or well-off parents to support them if they fail or even a rich government to kick in disaster relief money. So, sometimes you have to roll the dice and think that the likelihood of getting killed by the volcano is smaller than getting robbed if you evacuate - and in all honestly, most of the time the former is less likely than the latter. The problem lies in the few times that you're not right - and that is the part that volcanologists try so hard to predict. It is not like they enjoy calling evacuations when they are not needed, but right now our ability to pick out the exact last moment before you should evacuate is not too sharp - it is close to trying to do surgery with a sword instead of a scalpel. Sure, it might get the job done, but the collateral damage ... The long and short here is that there is much of the world where the decision-making process you might have when you evacuate your nuclear family from your beach home in Wilmington NC for a hurricane - when you can pack your car with possessions and lock the doors and set the alarm for your possessions (but not your livelihood, because you don't live off the land of your home or have livestock most likely) is very different than someone evacuating on foot with what they can carry (most likely not much) with their children and extended family. {/soapbox}.
Physical Science
Environment
Comments (131)
(another soap box)I think about how difficult it is for us to evacuate when something is threatening. Just look what happened during Katrina. Nobody wants to leave home and goods behind, even when there are protections involved. Another senerio that came to mind was Mt. St. Helens and Harry Truman who lived on the mountain. He was told to evacuate and he refused. Well, he was 83 and had lived there a long time and no way was he going to leave. He died with the mountain he loved. But what would he have done if he had evacuated? He would have lost everything and he was not in a postion to start over. If he had been 23, evacuating would have probably made sense to him.
It is always hard to leave our belongings behind, even for those who have huge homes and millions of dollars. Nobody wants to loose their stuff. The people who have very little would not have a chance to start over unless someone came in to help. Just look at Haiti. Theirs was a quake. In Ecuador, it is most likely a volcano, though it can be a quake, or a hurricane like Mitch.
It just goes to show how fragil we all are and how capricious life can be. On the bright side, we can enjoy what is around us---the beauty of the mountains, the lakes, the flowers, the forests, etc. One of my friends has commented on how beautiful a lava flow is and yet how deadly. So we can enjoy the beauty of it at a safe distance, also the awesome power and get the blip out of there if that is what we decide to do, or have to do. I remember the Krafts and how the work they did gave us a lot of info on the workings of volcanoes. They risked their lives doing what they loved and we can be greatful to them for the knowledge they left us. And that goes for all volcanologists who are risking their lives in the field studying, learning, and relaying what they have learned.
Posted by: Diane | February 2, 2010 10:51 AM