Posted on 04/20/2016 8:08:58 PM PDT by JimSEA
It’s not very often that I comment on news articles, but a reader of the blog recently brought this one to my attention, and it hits close to home.
The article is in the Washington Post’s Travel section and is entitled, “In Guatemala, a treacherous hike to one of the world’s most active volcanoes”. That title pretty much covers why I’m so upset – and conflicted – about the author of the piece is writing about. Anyone who knows me knows that I love volcanoes.
BUT.
I can’t stress enough that the Santiaguito hikes, conducted in this manner, ARE NOT SAFE. When I did field work at Santiaguito, my group took strict precautions to avoid dangerous areas of the domes. We did not camp on the domes. We did not climb on to the Caliente dome. We certainly did not go anywhere within range of the ballistics or the ash (which can be extremely bad if you inhale it, and at the very least will screw up your camera equipment).
Volcanology is no stranger to ‘volcano tourism’ ending badly; in the infamous 1993 eruption at Galeras, several local visitors were killed alongside the volcanologists. (Note: Don’t read beyond the abstract of that paper if you’re squeamish – there are no photos of the victims, but the descriptions are graphic.) Even given the precautions that the scientists took, they found themselves in a deadly situation when the dome erupted. Just because the same thing hasn’t happened yet at Santiaguito doesn’t mean that it won’t. Santiaguito has killed people before, in a dome collapse in 1929 that may have killed thousands of people. But that’s out of living memory, and in the last few decades the eruptions at the domes have seemed fairly regular and predictable.
(Excerpt) Read more at blogs.agu.org ...
I only have question about this volcano business — Does it get hot on the Caliente dome?
This article makes it sound like Climate Change has been around for a long time.
Stay away from JellyStone NP....
I had no idea at the time that the entire park was a volcano, I don’t think anyone did. If they did I don’t recall hearing about it.
“Volcano tourism” sounds about as smart as hanging a lit cigarette from your mouth while filling your car with gasoline.
It’s certainly a volcano but the risk factor is extremely low. I’ve been to Yellowstone and there are lots of reminders that you’re in an active volcano.
I don’t like roughing it, myself.
Japanese volcano tourism from 2014:
Seven more bodies have been found by rescuers combing the peak of a Japanese volcano that erupted at the weekend, officials said on Wednesday, taking the death toll to at least 43.
The seven are in addition to the 36 already known to have died when Mount Ontake burst angrily to life during the busy hiking season, but may not be the last, with reports of more bodies lying near the peak.
“Rescuers found seven more people in cardiac arrest near the mountain top, and are now carrying them down,” an official in Otaki village, where one mountain trail begins, told AFP.
Only doctors can declare someone officially dead, so first responders typically report that someone’s heart has stopped and they are not breathing.
Media reports have suggested as many as 20 people remain unaccounted for, with an area of the volcano still out of bounds to rescuers as it continues to billow toxic gas and steam.
About 1,000 troops, police and firefighters are combing the volcano for victims. They succeeded in bringing down 14 of the bodies that were discovered on Sunday, with 10 more still there.
An official at Nagano prefecture’s crisis management office said helicopters had been used to ferry the dead from the mountain, whose pock-marked lunarscape bears witness to the huge volume of ask and rocks that were flung from the volcano.
“We believe there are more people still missing, but we don’t know how many they are,” he said.
The state broadcaster NHK said rescuers had seen more bodies they had not yet been able to reach.
Hikers in Japan are requested to sign in when they begin their trek and sign out again when they finish. But a local tourism association told the Asahi Shimbun “usually only 10 to 20% of hikers register their names with authorities before entering the mountains in high season”.
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The report said 327 hikers had registered to be on Mount Ontake at the time of the eruption.
Rescuers are hoping that many of those that cannot be contacted simply forgot to let mountain managers know they were safe.
Nagano Prefecture has posted a notice on its website calling for information on hikers on the list. However, it is possible many more died.
“We don’t know if there are people buried deep down under accumulated ash,” a senior police official told the Asahi.
Most interesting links in that article.
It erupted in 1902, and killed virtually everyone near its base in minutes. No one had time to escape.
Super-heated gas roared down the mountain at 450 miles per hour.
The nearby town of 30,000 people had been very elegant, and was known as the "Riviera of the Caribbean"
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