Public awareness and

dissemination of information
plays a crucial part in
ensuring the safety of the
community living near a
volcano
Public awareness and
dissemination of information
plays a crucial part in
ensuring the safety of the
community living near a volcan
UNIVERSITY OF SAINT ANTHONY
(Dr. Santiago G. Ortega Memorial)
City of Iriga

SCHOOL OF GRADUATE STUDIES AND RESEARCH

EDUC 221

Name: Villa, Christine L. _____________ Score:

Date: November 20, 2022
1) What conditions must be considered to determine whether a volcano is likely to
cause an avalanche once it is triggered? (10pts)

2) What risks do volcanoes bring during volcanic activity? How can the coming of lahars
be anticipated? What warning signs should we watch out for? (10pts)

3) What information from volcanic hazards map can be used for the safety of the
community? Choose one and explain. (10pts)

a. volcanic hazard identification and mapping

b. analysis of historical accounts of volcanic hazard occurrences and impacts

(The output for this activity should be sent to me in primate message not later than Monday,
Nov. 21, 2022)

Answers:

1) What conditions must be considered to determine whether a volcano is likely to

cause an avalanche once it is triggered? (10pts)

A volcano is a vent in the earth's crust from which fiery hot magma erupts from the
earth's interior. Avalanche is a massive quantity of something that comes suddenly such as
snow, ice, earth or rocks that come loose and speed down a mountain. An example of
avalanche is a glacier that splits from a cliff face and hurdles down the side of a mountain.

Volcanic hazards aren't limited to eruptions. Avalanche can also cause a great deal of
damage and loss of life. Stratovolcanoes, with their steep, conical shapes made up of lava and
unconsolidated mixed materials, can reach a critical point of instability when they overgrow
their flanks. This leads to partial collapse, and the product of this slope failure is a large-scale,
rapid mass movement known as a catastrophic landslide or debris avalanche.

An avalanche is formed when: an unstable slope collapses and debris is transported

away from the slope. Large scale avalanches normally occur on very steep volcanoes. There are
two general types of debris avalanches: those that are "cold" and those that are "hot". A cold
avalanche usually results from a slope becoming unstable whereas a hot avalanche is the result
of volcanic activity such as volcanic earthquakes or the injection of magma which causes slope
instability. For several months before Mount St. Helens erupted in 1980, magma was injected
into the north flank of the volcano creating a bulge that was extremely unstable. An earthquake
triggered the movement of land in this area and the result was a fast-moving avalanche.

Several conditions can trigger Avalanches:

  intrusion of magma into a volcano.
 explosive eruptions.
 large earthquake directly beneath a volcano or nearby (typically >M5).
 heavy or long-lived rainfall that saturates the ground.

Geological evidence shows that: the larger a debris avalanche is, the faster it moves.
The reason for this is due to energy stored in material within the avalanche. Some large
avalanches have been known to carry blocks as large as three kilometers in length, several
kilometers from their source. Such avalanches can travel close to 300 km/hr (Francis, 1993).

2) What risks do volcanoes bring during volcanic activity? How can the coming of lahars
be anticipated? What warning signs should we watch out for? (10pts)

There are numerous risks during volcanic activity:

 The active volcanoes usually release toxic gases in the area around it, such as sulfur or
sulfur that can suffocate the cattle and leave unconscious to a person in question of
seconds or minutes depending on the concentration of the same.
 If the volcano is a stratovolcano with snow and glaciers covering the summit, then with
a moderate or small eruption a large part of these glaciers / ice masses could easily melt
and detach and flow down the slope, forming lahars, mud avalanches, melted ice and all
those that the flow picks up on its way downhill, that can drag or bury houses
completely or cause bridges to collapse.

 lava flows that tend to emanate from that class of volcanoes, although it is not very fast
and it should be possible to escape or move away the path of a lava flow of that type
before it reaches you.
 erupted magma with high content of silica, are the infamous Piroplastic flows, scorching
avalanches of red-hot material, pulverized rocks and gas that would advance in all
directions from the respirator or that produces them, roasting and burying with
everything in its path and with the potential to advance for tens of kilometers, especially
when there are ultra-Plinian eruptions.
 fall of ash. Volcanic ash is not like the ash that is found in a fireplace, in an oven or in a
bonfire, it is more, the "volcanic ash" is not even ash, they are rocks so destroyed by the
pressures that make them erupt they turn them into a kind of tiny glass particles when
they are observed under a microscope, which weigh 6 times more than snow and can
make ceilings collapse constructions. The "volcanic ash" can also clog the engines of the
vehicles to sneak into the air intakes and if they get into the lungs, they can stay lodged
in them and cause breathing problems and even death if you continue to breathe for a
long time.
 Lahars are usually associated with volcanic eruptions or the melting of a glacier by lava
flow. But they can have other causes like earthquakes, floods or mudslides. Just about any
disruptive force enough to free the lahar will get it moving down the volcano, usually following
a river valley.

Lahars are nasty creatures that can be truly enormous and just plow through anything in
their path. Most Lahars are a mushy combination of mud, snow, ice, lava, ash, rocks and water
and have the consistency of flowing concrete.

It is necessary to be aware of the natural warning signs of an approaching lahar. Ground

rumbling accompanied by a roaring sound like a jet or locomotive. Moving to high ground
immediately is the recommended course of action.

3) What information from volcanic hazards map can be used for the safety of the
community? Choose one and explain. (10pts)

a. volcanic hazard identification and mapping

Volcanic hazard maps are visual, geospatial depictions of the areas that could be impacted
by various volcanic phenomena during or subsequent to an eruption. They are developed to
communicate a complex array of hazard information to those at risk, or those responsible for
managing those at risk. It is really important to be aware of hazard areas in our locality.
Because there are several factors that can cost you your life because of living in an area that is
more hazardous at the time of occurrence of a natural disaster.