Lauriquez, Kent Russel A.

Grade 12 – Arafura

DRRR

1. Explain various volcanic related hazards.

 Lava Flows
- Is molten rock that flows out of a volcano or volcanic vent. Depending on its composition
and temperature, lava can be very fluid or very sticky (viscous). Fluid flows are hotter
and move the fastest; they can form streams or rivers, or spread out across the landscape
in lobes. Viscous flows are cooler and travel shorter distances, and can sometimes build
up into lava domes or plugs; collapses of flow fronts or domes can form pyroclastic
density currents.

 Pyroclastic Density Currents

- Pyroclastic density currents are an explosive eruptive phenomenon. They are mixtures of
pulverized rock, ash, and hot gases, and can move at speeds of hundreds of miles per
hour. These currents can be dilute, as in pyroclastic surges, or concentrated, as in
pyroclastic flows. They are gravity-driven, which means that they flow down slopes.

 Pyroclastic Falls
- Pyroclastic falls, also known as volcanic fallout, occur when tephra - fragmented rock
ranging in size from mm to tens of cm (fractions of inches to feet) - is ejected from a
volcanic vent during an eruption and falls to the ground some distance away from the
vent. Falls are usually associated with Plinian eruptive columns, ash clouds or volcanic
plumes. Tephra in pyroclastic fall deposits may have been transported only a short
distance from the vent (a few meters to several km), or, if it is injected into the upper
atmosphere, may circle the globe. Any kind of pyroclastic fall deposit will mantle or
drape itself over the landscape, and will decrease in both size and thickness the farther
away it is from its source.

 Lahars
- Lahars are a specific kind of mudflow made up of volcanic debris. They can form in a
number of situations: when small slope collapses gather water on their way down a
volcano, through rapid melting of snow and ice during an eruption, from heavy rainfall
on loose volcanic debris, when a volcano erupts through a crater lake, or when a crater
lake drains because of overflow or wall collapse.

 Gases
- Volcanic gases are probably the least showy part of a volcanic eruption, but they can be
one of an eruption's most deadly effects. Most of the gas released in an eruption is water
vapor (H2O), and relatively harmless, but volcanoes also produce carbon dioxide (CO2),
sulfur dioxide (SO2), hydrogen sulfide (H2S), fluorine gas (F2), hydrogen fluoride (HF),
 and other gases. All of these gases can be hazardous - even deadly - in the right
conditions.

2. If you were in Albay and your residence is near Mayon Volcano, prepare a family
preparedness plan in case of a volcanic eruptions.
 Before Volcanic Eruptions
 Build an Emergency Supply Kit, which includes items like non-perishable food,
water, a battery-powered or hand-crank radio, extra flashlights and batteries. You
may want to prepare a portable kit and keep it in your car in case you are told to
evacuate. This kit should also include a pair of goggles and disposable breathing
masks for each member of the family.

 Make a Family Emergency Plan. Your family may not be together when disaster
strikes, so it is important to know how you will contact one another, how you will
get back together and what you will do in case of an emergency.

 During a Volcanic Eruptions

 Follow the evacuation order issued by authorities and evacuate immediately from the
volcano area to avoid flying debris, hot gases, lateral blast and lava flow.
 Be aware of mudflows. The danger from a mudflow increases near stream channels and
with prolonged heavy rains. Mudflows can move faster than you can walk or run. Look
upstream before crossing a bridge and do not cross the bridge if a mudflow is
approaching.
 Avoid river valleys and low-lying areas.
 Remember to help your neighbors who may require special assistance - infants, elderly
people and people with access and functional needs.

 After a Volcanic Eruption

 Go to designated public evacuation center if you have been told to evacuate or you feel it
is unsafe to remain in your home.
 Local authorities may not immediately be able to provide information on what is
happening and what you should do. However, you should listen to the radio or television
that might give you some news and update and also for the official instruction coming
from the government.

3. In what ways do the effects of lahar differ from those of flooding by ricer water?
How Science and Technology contribute to he understanding of lahar and to the
mitigation of its effect to the communities?
 Large lahars can crush, abrade, bury, or carry away almost anything in their paths.
Buildings and valuable land may be partially or completely buried. By destroying bridges
and roads, lahars can also trap people in areas vulnerable to other hazardous volcanic
activity, especially if the lahars leave fresh deposits that are too deep, too soft, or too hot
to cross.
 Over a period of weeks to years after a volcanic eruption, the erosion and transportation
of loose volcanic deposits can lead to severe flooding in areas far downstream from a
volcano. Intense rainfall easily erodes loose sediment on steep slopes to
produce lahars that travel onto flood plains and bury entire towns and valuable
agricultural land. These rainfall-induced lahars can wreak havoc on rivers and streams,
sometimes depositing so much sediment that chronic flooding also becomes a problem.

 Floods impact on both individuals and communities, and have social, economic, and
environmental consequences. The consequences of floods, both negative and positive,
vary greatly depending on the location and extent of flooding, and the vulnerability and
value of the natural and constructed environments they affect.

 The consequences of floods, both negative and positive, vary greatly depending on their
location, duration, depth and speed, as well as the vulnerability and value of the affected
natural and constructed environments. Floods impact both individuals and communities,
and have social, economic, and environmental consequences.

 We can greatly say that lahar is more dangerous than flooding because lahar can have a
large damage both infrastructure and environment.

 Progress in the science and technology of natural hazards and of related coping
mechanisms has made it possible over the past years to introduce significant changes in
the integrated approach to the problematic of natural disasters. Science and technology
help us to understand the mechanism of natural hazards of atmospherically, geological,
hydrological, and biological origins and to analyze the transformation of these hazards
into disasters. Scientific knowledge of the violent forces of nature is made up of an
orderly system of facts that have been learned from study, experiments, and observations
of floods, severe storms, earthquakes, landslides, volcanic eruptions and tsunamis, and
their impacts on humankind and his works. The scientific and technological disciplines
which are involved include basic and engineering sciences, natural, social and human
sciences. They relate to the hazard environment (i.e., hydrology, geology, geophysics,
seismology, volcanology, meteorology, and biology), to the built environment (i.e.,
engineering, architecture, and materials), and to the policy environment ( i.e., sociology,
humanities, political sciences, and management science). Major progress has been made
in the development of global meteorological models and their application to large scale
weather prediction. The critical information currently provided on global climate change
and its implication on the global environment is the fruit of this progress.