Colombia's Volcanic Activity

 Colombia's Volcanic Activity

With volcanoes in Colombia there has been a lot of eruptions in the past years. The worst volcanic eruption in terms of deaths, destroyed houses and financial damages happened  on 11/13/1985 with the eruption of "Ruiz" , over 23,000 people died. 

Colombia is located on the Pacific Ring of fire, which stretches for about 40,000 km around the Pacific Ocean. Here the tectonic plate of the pacific collides with several surrounding continental plates and seismic tremors occur again and again. Most of the worlds volcanic eruptions, which are also the most severe occur in this zone. 

Preparing For An Eruption 

The Nevado del Ruiz volcano in Colombia is one of the most active volcanoes in the Americas and killed tens of thousands of people when it last erupted in the 1980s. As of May 1, the volcano has been especially active. Here’s what we know and what the IFRC network is doing to prepare for an eruption.



To prepare for this risk, the Colombian Red Cross has activated its general plan of action.  

This plan defines the preparedness actions they need to take in response to different levels of volcanic activity, including if the alert level changes from orange to red indicating that the volcano is in the process of erupting or is going to erupt any time. They’ve been re-training volunteers in first aid, evacuation, and emergency coordination, and restocking essential emergency response items such as first aid kits, identification items for first responders, and emergency signal equipment. They’ve also been sharing as much information as possible within local communities around Nevado del Ruiz: warning at-risk families to evacuate; talking to them about how and where to evacuate safely; and handing out radios and batteries to people in hard-to-reach areas so they can stay informed. 


Sources: https://www.ifrc.org/article/nevado-del-ruiz-volcano-preparing-eruption

https://www.worlddata.info/america/colombia/volcanoes.php


Comments

  1. Andrew ShaverSeptember 22, 2023 at 3:58 PM

    Very good job Adrian! Very in depth research on the activity and mitigation. I even mentioned that Colombia is a neighboring country to mine (Venezuela) with more volcanic activity since my country had none.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Darian KamibayashiSeptember 23, 2023 at 2:55 AM

    Hey Adrian,
    I think you did a great job sharing to us about the volcanic history in Columbia. I think it's pretty interesting how the worst volcanic eruption in terms on destruction was recently in 1985. My country, Panama, is in the Pacific Ring of Fire like your country, but the most recent volcanic activity in Panama was about 500 years ago. Also, I think you did a great job explaining the plan that Columbia executes to prepare for volcanic activity to ensure the safety of the population in Columbia. Overall, good job!

    ReplyDelete

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