Word: volcano
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 2000-2009
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...Geological-Mining Investigations (INGEOMINAS) had published a report on Oct. 7 warning of the virtual certainty of a disaster. The report singled out Armero and the village of Chinchiná as threatened sites. As early as Sept. 26, INGEOMINAS had recommended the evacuation of towns at the base of the volcano. But the Colombian Ministers of the Interior, Public Works and Transportation, and Mines and Energy all had taken turns depreciating the danger...
...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 suggested the establishment of a civil defense system in the Lagunilla River valley...
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...
...week's end the rescue squads working heroically in the shadow of the volcano were giving fear little thought. All their efforts were bent on saving the living. Only now and then did they have time to think of the thousands of dead who lay beneath their feet. Giving in fully to the release of grief was a luxury that Colombia could not yet afford. --By George Russell. Reported by Bernard Diederich/Armero and Tom Quinn and Gavin Scott/Bogot...
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...