Volcanoes are truly splendid natural disasters.

Spewing lava from the Earth’s core, not only can eruptions lead to complete destruction of the volcano’s immediate surrounds, but can change the nature of the landscape.

Since 1600, The Conversation reports that 278 880 people have been killed by volcanic activity, “with many of these deaths attributed to secondary hazards associated with the main eruption”.

Here’s more:

Starvation killed 92 000 following the 1815 Tambora eruption in Indonesia, for example, and a volcanic tsunami killed 36 000 following the 1883 Krakatoa eruption.

Since the 1980s, deaths related to volcanic eruptions have been rather limited, but this is not entirely a result of increased preparedness or investment in hazard management – it is significantly a matter of chance.

Since the turn of the 21st century, research shows that although volcanic activity has not slowed down, it just hasn’t been seen in populated areas. That being said, there are still a number of volcanoes that pose a major threat to lives. Check it:

Vesuvius, Italy

Known for its 79AD eruption, which destroyed the towns of Pompeii and Herculaneum, Vesuvius is still a significant hazard given that it overshadows the city of Naples and its surrounds, which are home to over 3m people.

Nyiragongo, Democratic Republic of Congo

This central African volcano has erupted several times over the last few decades and while its eruptions aren’t particularly explosive, it produces a particularly runny – and dangerous – form of lava. Once effused, this lava can rapidly move down the flanks of the volcano and inundate areas with little or no warning.

Popocatepetl, Mexico

“Popo”, as the locals call it, is just 70km south-west of the one of the largest cities in the world: Mexico City, home to 20m people. Popo is regularly active and its most recent bout of activity in 2016 sent a plume of ash to an altitude of five kilometres.

Krakatoa, Indonesia

Otherwise named Krakatau, Krakatoa’s name is infamous; 36,000 people were killed by the tsunami triggered by its 1886 eruption, which released more energy than 13,000 Hiroshima atomic bombs. The eruption destroyed the volcanic island completely, but within 50 years, a new island had appeared in its place.

Changbaishan, China

Few have heard of this volcano in a remote part of Asia – and its last eruption was in 1903. However, its history tells a rather scarier story. In around 969AD, the volcano produced one of the largest eruptions of the last 10,000 years, releasing three times more material than Krakatoa did in 1886.

If you pop over to The Conversation, they break down why each of the above volcanoes pose a bigger threat than other volcanoes, like, for example, the continuously erupting Volcán de Fuego and Volcán de Pacaya in Guatemala.

In an effort to understand volcanoes further, scientists on site are studying the two Guatemalan volcanoes using a “custom fixed wing UAV (essentially an RC plane) allowing them to sample and document volcanic emissions that could otherwise not have been detected,” reports Gizmodo.

The idea is that in future, the research will help better monitor all volcanoes, predicting eruptions which will allow locals to get to safety quicker.

Here’s some extravagant drone footage of the volcanoes captured so far:

How fascinating?

[source: theconversation]