The largest cluster of volcanoes is located in the "fiery belt" of the Earth - the Pacific volcanic ring. It is here that 90% of all earthquakes in the world occurred. The so-called fiery belt stretches along the entire perimeter of the Pacific Ocean. In the west along the coast from the Kamchatka Peninsula to New Zealand and Antarctica, and in the east, passing through the Andes and the Cordillera, it reaches the Aleutian Islands of Alaska.
One of the currently active centers of the "belt of fire" is located in the north of the island of Sumatra in Indonesia - Sinabung volcano. This one of 130 volcanoes in Sumatra is notable for the fact that over the past seven years it has been constantly active and has attracted the attention of both scientists and the media.
Chronicle of Sinabunga
The first eruption of the Indonesian volcano Sinabung after four centuries of sleep began in 2010. On the weekends of August 28 and 29, underground rumble and rumble were heard. Many residents, about 10,000 people, fled away from the awakened volcano.
Sunday night, the Sinabung volcano woke up completely: the eruption began with a powerful ejection of a column of ash and smoke more than 1.5 km up. After the explosion inSunday was followed by a more powerful one on Monday, August 30, 2010. The eruption claimed the lives of two people. In total, about 30,000 nearby residents were forced to leave their homes and fields covered with volcanic ash with a dead crop. In the photo below, residents are fleeing from a cloud of ash.
The second eruption of the Sinabung volcano began on November 6, 2013 and then lasted for several more days. The volcano threw out columns of ash to a height of up to 3 km, the plume from which spread over tens of kilometers. More than 5,000 people from 7 surrounding villages were evacuated. The government of Sumatra urged not to approach Sinabung volcano more than 3 km.
In February 2014, disaster struck. After the cessation of volcanic activity (in early January), evacuees from villages located more than 5 km from the volcano were allowed to return home. But immediately after that, on February 1, a powerful ejection of lava and a pyroclastic flow claimed the lives of 16 people.
To this day, the Sinabung volcano has not calmed down: a column of ash and smoke is visible for many kilometers, eruptions of various strengths and durations do not stop and take the lives of daredevils who risked returning to the exclusion zone of the volcano with a radius of 7 km, which after the disaster of 2014 organized by the Government of Sumatra.
It is noteworthy that in the exclusion zone you can find entire cities and ghost villages, collapsing, empty, as if the apocalypse has already overtaken the Earth. But there are also brave farmers who continue to live at the foot ofMount Sinabung. What attracts them so much?
Why do people settle near the foot of volcanoes
The soil on the slopes of volcanoes is extremely fertile due to the minerals that fall into it with volcanic ash. In a warm climate, you can grow more than one crop per year. Therefore, the farmers of Sumatra, despite the dangerous proximity of the Sinabung volcano, do not leave their homes and arable land at its foot.
In addition to agriculture, they mine gold, diamonds, ore, volcanic tuff and other minerals.
How dangerous is a volcanic eruption
Among people who do not live in a geologically active area, it is a common cliché that a volcano erupts solely due to the flow of lava that rushes down the side of the mountain. And if a person is lucky to be or settle and sow a crop on the opposite side of it, then the danger has passed. Otherwise, you just need to climb higher on a rock or swim on a stone fragment among the lava, like on an ice floe on water, the main thing is not to fall off. And it’s better to run across to the right side of the mountain in time and wait an hour or two.
Lava is definitely deadly. Like the earthquake that accompanies a volcanic eruption. But the flow moves rather slowly, and a physically full-fledged person is able to get away from it. An earthquake is also not always of a large magnitude.
In fact, pyroclastic flows and volcanic ash pose a huge danger.
Pyroclastic flows
Incandescent gas that escapes from the bowelsvolcano, picks up stones and ashes and sweeps away everything in its path, rushing down. Such streams reach speeds of 700 km/h. For example, you can imagine the Sapsan train at full speed. Its speed is about three times less, but despite this, the picture is quite impressive. The temperature of the gases in the rushing mass reaches 1000 degrees, it can burn all living things on the way in a matter of minutes.
One of the deadliest pyroclastic flows known in history killed 28,000 people at once (up to 40,000 according to some sources) in the port of Saint-Pierre on the island of Martinique. On May 8, 1902, in the morning, the Mont Pele volcano, at the foot of which the port was located, after a series of monstrous explosions, threw out a cloud of hot gas and ash, which reached the settlement in a matter of minutes. The pyroclastic flow swept through the city at breakneck speed, and there was no escape even on the water, which instantly boiled and killed everyone who fell into it from the capsized ships in the harbor. Only one ship managed to get out of the bay.
In February 2014, 14 people died in such a stream during the eruption of the Indonesian volcano Sinabung.
Volcanic ash
At the time of the eruption, the ash and rather large stones thrown out by the volcano can burn or cause injury. If we talk about the ash that covers everything around after the eruption, then its consequences are more long-lasting. It is even beautiful in its own way - the post-apocalyptic landscape from the island of Sumatra in the photo below confirms this.
But the ashes are bad forhe alth of people and domestic animals. Walking around such a place for a long time without a respirator is deadly. The ash is also very heavy and, especially when mixed with rainwater, can break through the roof of a house, bringing it down on those inside.
Besides this, in large quantities it is also detrimental to agriculture.
Cars, planes, water treatment plants, even communication systems - everything breaks down under a layer of ash, which also indirectly poses a danger to people's lives.
Extreme tourism
Not only the farmer, whose reasons are very clear, can be found near the recent epicenter of the eruption. Extreme tourism on the slopes of active volcanoes brings income to the local population. In the photo, an extreme tourist who explores an abandoned city at the foot of the Sinabung volcano in the exclusion zone. Behind him, a column of smoke is clearly visible, smoking over the volcano.
Man and nature continue to wage an unequal battle with each other!
