Volcano how many people died

Skip to main content Try our corporate solution for free! Single Accounts Corporate Solutions Universities. Premium statistics. Read more. In , the number of fatalities caused by the eruption of the Japanese volcano Tokachidake amounted to In the most recent volcanic disaster in , 63 people were killed. That year, Mount Ontake erupted unexpectedly. Since it is a popular tourist attraction, there were many people present who fell victim to the volcanic eruption.

Japan is located on the Ring of Fire, and there are over active volcanoes located on the archipelago. You need a Single Account for unlimited access. Full access to 1m statistics Incl. Single Account. View for free. Show source.

Show detailed source information? Register for free Already a member? Log in. More information. Supplementary notes. Other statistics on the topic. Emissions Largest global emitters of carbon dioxide by country Waste Management Number of municipal waste landfills in Italy Demographics Biggest metropolitan areas in Italy Catharina Klein.

Tens of thousands of residents had fled the city in panic -- around 7, of them to neighbouring Rwanda -- when Nyiragongo began erupting on Saturday evening. Along with the five people found dead on Monday, at least 15 people have died, although most were not killed directly by the eruption.

Authorities said nine people died in accidents during the rush to evacuate, while four prisoners were killed while trying to escape in the melee. Two people were found burned to death. While the river of lava stopped at the edge of Goma and many residents have now returned, each aftershock brought anxious residents back out onto the streets on Monday.

Schools are still shut with pupils told to stay at home, although businesses and petrol stations were open again. By Monday the blackish solidified lava was still hot and smoking, with dozens of people turning out to inspect it or even walk on it, despite the risk of inhaling toxic fumes.

The largest increases in percentage with distance data are seen from the 16th to 17th centuries and 19th to 20th centuries. This pattern is similar to that observed in eruption records where recording undergoes significant improvements at about and AD, attributed to colonisation, increased written record keeping and technological improvements in communication e. Furlan, , Rougier et al. The percentage of all fatal incidents per century for which we have identified the fatal distances. Note that the data for the twenty-first century only represent up to Both QL 1 and QL 2max data are represented.

We use data since to investigate whether there has been a reduction in the number of incidents and therefore an improvement in saving lives over time. In the early part of the twentieth Century the rate of recording of fatal incidents is reasonably steady Fig. During World Wars I and II there is a drop in recordings: in the years to just three incidents are recorded, compared with 17 in the preceding 5 years; nine are recorded from to , compared with 16 in the preceding 7 years.

This may be attributed to fewer non-war-related scientific and humanitarian activities and less record keeping Simkin, ; Siebert et al. From the rate of fatal incidents increases to present, with the early s showing a particular peak in incidents and a return to the levels of the mid-century from about Number of fatal incidents recorded over the last century, to Shown for all data blue line , and separately for tourists green , and scientists yellow.

The number of fatal incidents involving tourists is variable throughout the period. However, the rate also shows a significant increase in the s and for about a decade from Fatal incidents involving scientists show a general increase in rate since about , with particular increases in recorded incidents in the earlys and earlys, before a return to the levels of the mid-century. The increase in numbers of incidents post World War II could suggest there is a worsening volcanic safety record, but alternatively this may reflect improved reporting and changes in population size and distribution.

The increased number of incidents involving scientists may reflect increased deployment of scientists globally, with many volcanoes becoming increasingly accessible.

The recent decline in fatal incidents in the last 20 years may reflect factors such as more risk averse societies, improved monitoring and early warning and more attention being paid to health and safety. Despite this, volcano fatalities are recorded in each year from to , with the exception of and More fatal incidents are recorded within the first 5 km of the volcano than any other 5 km zone beyond.

The remaining 71 incidents have no data explicitly stating the involvement of such groups, and are therefore considered to have been dominantly local residents. In such locations the whole population and all critical infrastructure lies within a few kilometres of the volcano. Such high exposure increases the likelihood of fatalities and has serious implications for evacuation, post-disaster recovery and the severity of the social and economic impact on the island. This identification of a large proportion of proximal volcanic fatalities being located on small islands lends credence to the use of the proportional volcanic threat ranking of Brown et al.

These incidents accounting for large losses of lives are reflected in the average number of fatalities per incident Table 8. The average number of fatalities increases to per km 2 in this distance range per km 2 if incidents over fatalities are removed , equivalent to an average of 2.

At this distance there are few of the identified fatality groups e. On average there is an increase in population density around historically active volcanoes beyond 10 km. However, at this distance there is a general decrease in the number of fatalities and the number of incidents, with fewer volcanic hazards reaching this distance. Incidents individually accounting for large losses of lives are observed at this distance, with many tens of thousands lost in incidents at tens of kilometres distance, as reflected in the difference between mean and median fatalities per incident in Table 8.

The average number of fatalities at 10 to 30 km is 13 per km 2 , equivalent to 0. At 30 to km this decreases to 3 fatalities per km 2 , equivalent to 0. Larger eruptions are relatively infrequent. There are several possible reasons for the absence of proximal fatal incidents in large magnitude eruptions: the use of the maximum distance in QL 2 data will in some instances over-estimate the fatality distance, particularly when constrained by the maximum flow length; volcanoes capable of large magnitude eruptions may have unsuitable proximal topography or enforced exclusion zones for the establishment of populations; or evacuations of proximal zones prior to large eruptions have proven successful.

Additionally, the higher frequency of smaller events overwhelm the data at this distance. Thus, rather than proximal fatal incidents from large-magnitude eruptions being absent, within this distance bin they are just relatively less likely than those from small-magnitude eruptions. Here we arbitrarily take incidents of fatalities or greater as a major event to illustrate trends with distance.

These events in which large numbers of fatalities occur typically reflect PDC, lahar or tsunami impact on towns and cities. Beyond 10 km, 12 incidents have over fatalities each, with the Krakatau, Indonesia, eruption accounting for 36, through widespread tsunami. The identification of visitor groups in which fatalities are high is key for improving safety and reducing deaths and injuries in these groups.

With few exceptions, the recorded deaths of volcanologists or other scientists, tourists, journalists and eruption response personnel were within 5 km of the volcano in incidents resulting in small numbers of casualties.

While volcanologists and emergency response personnel may have valid reasons for their approach into hazardous zones, the benefits and risks must be carefully weighed. Baxter and Gresham provide recommendations on safety measures for volcanologists following the eruption of Galeras, Colombia.

The media should observe exclusion zones and follow direction from the authorities and volcano observatories. The dominance of tourist fatalities at some volcanoes e. Yellowstone, Rotorua and Kilauea suggests that visitors unfamiliar with the hazards are more vulnerable than local residents.

Tourist fatalities could be reduced with appropriate access restrictions, warnings and education. The dominant classification of victims within 5 km may reflect bias in the data recording. At this distance small numbers of casualties are usually involved, making reports more likely to include detailed information regarding the victims.

The volcanology community makes it unlikely for volcanologist deaths to go unremarked at any distance when due to volcanic activity. The location of the eruption vent can be difficult to identify, as eruptions can occur at the volcano summit or at flank vents and fissures.

Most population exposure and risk assessments are centred on the summit of volcanoes, unless activity is expected from fissure zones. Hence, here the volcano to fatal incident distance is measured from the summit. This is appropriate for our analysis, but should be recognised as a limitation if focussed on particular hazards.

For example, lahars may initiate at some distance from the summit, lavas are commonly effused from fissure zones on volcano flanks, and gases and hydrothermal systems may be widespread beyond the summit. There is an obvious human influence on the data, with both numbers of fatalities and distances being preferentially recorded to whole numbers and often tens i.

Where possible exact figures are used, however, distances should be considered as approximations. The exclusion of distal, indirect fatalities in the analysis can make the lethal range of hazards appear restricted to areas close to volcanoes. However, the difficulty in identifying distance ranges in these incidents can distort the results and complicate analysis.

This is also a difficulty in tsunami incidents, where the impacts are widespread. Volcanic areas are prone to cascading hazards where one hazard triggers the occurrence of another, and indirect fatalities can be extensive in area affected, numbers of fatalities and time after eruption.

The potential for such indirect fatalities should be recognised in community planning and preparedness efforts. Care should be taken in maintenance of the database to ensure the fatal cause is clearly identifiable and volcanic in origin. There are known issues with data completeness in the eruption record, with under-recording affected by factors including time and location. The fatality dataset is relatively small and is likely incomplete.

The distance determinations aid the understanding of volcanic fatalities but there are many other factors that should be considered and should be a focus of future work and database improvements. Healthcare facilities hold data on volcano-related fatalities that is not easily accessible and may not be reported elsewhere. For example, indirect fatalities through falls from roofs during tephra clean-up or mental health complications are likely under-reported in the scientific literature and activity bulletins.

Future updates to and development of the database would benefit from collaboration with in-country sources such as volcano observatories, geosciences agencies and healthcare facilities to widen the data available and ensure data completeness.

Such factors have some control over the location and occurrence of fatalities, and as such may impact the recorded distribution of fatalities. We do not consider the effects of exclusion zones, evacuations and emergency management which have helped save many thousands of lives.

For example, the eruption of Merapi, Indonesia, claimed nearly lives, however an estimated 10, to 20, lives were saved by timely evacuations Surono et al. To better understand eruptions and their impacts and to reduce disaster risk we need comprehensive, systematic data collection as data are highly variable with time and location. Data availability and accessibility make measurement of such a factor challenging.

Sendai should be viewed as a call to spur advancement in data collection and accessibility and international collaboration. One of the desired aims of the UN is to better understand victim demographics, to aid identification of vulnerable groups: data crucial to this aim are gender, disability, age, fatal cause, fatality location, occupation and residence type. An application of the new fatality distance data is in the weighting of population data in the Population Exposure Index PEI; Aspinall et al.

The exposed population living around a volcano and within the footprint of potential hazards is a major factor in volcanic risk. Ewert and Harpel calculated populations in increasing radii circles centred on volcanoes to define Volcano Population Indices VPI.

However, it is preferable to have a single index for risk estimation. A rational way of developing such an index is to recognise that threat decreases in a general way with distance and to use the fatality distance data as an empirical basis for weighting. The PEI was introduced by Aspinall et al. Aspinall et al. Brown et al. Both Aspinall et al. Our new dataset expands the number of incidents with a recorded distance to , improving confidence in weightings. Indirect fatalities and fatalities through seismicity are excluded from this count.

Of these, are QL1 data. As QL2 data represents a range over which fatalities occurred it is excluded for the purposes of PEI calculation. It is this latter group where population exposure is particularly high. The database provided as per this paper is Version 1. Periodic updates will be made as new data becomes available and new versions will thus be released.

Readers are invited to contribute to the database via the corresponding author. The fatalities dataset will also be incorporated into Volcanoes of the World database through the GVP. The updated fatalities database holds records with , fatalities in total, considering all fatal causes.

The distance at which fatalities occurred from the volcano is identified in incidents, ranging from inside the crater to over km. The removal of indirect and seismicity-related fatal incidents leaves , fatalities in incidents: distance is recorded in of these incidents.

The distribution of fatalities with distance is highly dependent on the occurrence of major incidents in which thousands die. These occur at distances beyond 5 km and to tens of kilometres, typically due to hazardous flows or tsunamis.

Ballistics dominate the proximal incident record, PDCs the medial, and lahars, tsunami and tephra the distal record. Reducing mortality from disasters is a priority target of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction.

As such, systematic fatality data collection is crucial. In line with the requirements of Sendai, we recommend that future volcanic fatalities are recorded with at least a basic level of detail covering: gender, location, date of death and fatal cause.

A better understanding about the lethal range and lethal elements of volcanic hazards could be gained if the physiological cause of death was also recorded e. If volcano-related injuries were recorded in a similar manner, this would provide empirical data for the further development of safety recommendations, equipment and less vulnerable structures.

The distribution of fatalities and quantification of fatal distances enables an analysis of volcanic threat to life around volcanoes, and permits more robust calculations of population exposure to volcanic hazards.

The weightings in the Population Exposure Index proposed and applied by Aspinall et al. The ever-growing population exposed to volcanic hazards is a significant factor increasing risk. Risk can be reduced with improvements in forecasting and monitoring, together with increased societal resilience achieved through raising awareness and development of volcanic emergency management plans. Exposure can be reduced through timely evacuations and restrictions on development of urban areas in potential volcanic hazard footprints.

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