Word: nevado
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...private, the Colombian government showed far more concern about the situation. In the second half of October it invited a group of Italian volcanologists to visit Colombia. Their task: to give an opinion on the danger posed by Nevado del Ruiz. The team's conclusions were alarming. Said Franco Barberi, a professor of volcanology at the University of Pisa: "The volcano has certainly not finished its activity. Actually, the worst may be yet to come." On Oct. 22, the Italians submitted a report to the Colombian government warning that an "extremely dangerous" eruption could be expected at any time. They...
Said Herd, who wrote his doctoral dissertation on the Nevado del Ruiz volcano: "The Colombians were sincerely trying to respond to the hazard." Agreed Luis Eduardo Jaramillo, an INGEOMINAS spokesman: "We warned the people living in the area that something could happen. We gave them instructions about what to do if it blew up." Yet in their report the Italians criticized the Colombian precautions as "absolutely inadequate...
...nothing, however, are calamities like Nevado del Ruiz known as acts of God. For the people who lived and worked in the farmlands around the simmering mountain, the early signs of eruption were accepted as part of the environment. Nor could anyone have predicted that the disaster would finally take place at night, the time of maximum vulnerability. Said Father Augusto Aosorio, one of Armero's parish priests: "We knew the danger was there. But we just cheerfully got accustomed to it." Aosorio was extraordinarily lucky: only hours before the eruption, he had left town to meet with his bishop...
...second-guessing about the event could go on for months. Meanwhile, the danger from Nevado del Ruiz may still be far from over. Says the University of Pisa's Barberi: "Other explosions are certain to take place. It may be that the phenomena will be of minor intensity, but they will be equally dangerous." For one thing, he asserts, the large glaciers that surround the crater of Nevado del Ruiz have still not been warmed by the eruptions. If those rivers of ice should melt, they would create additional mud avalanches that would place rescuers in serious danger...
That vivid eyewitness account could be a description of last week's furious eruption of the Nevado del Ruiz in Colombia. Yet it was written by a Spanish monk, Father Pedro Simon, who observed on March 12, 1595, the 17,716-ft. volcano's previous major convulsion. The similarities between the two events point up both the always present menace of an active volcano and its lethal unpredictability. Although scientists were convinced that Nevado del Ruiz was due for a major burst, they could not pinpoint the time with sufficient accuracy to allow large-scale evacuation of the surrounding towns...