Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Contributors
- Foreword
- Preface
- Acknowledgements
- 1 An introduction to global volcanic hazard and risk
- 2 Global volcanic hazard and risk
- 3 Volcanic ash fall hazard and risk
- 4 Populations around Holocene volcanoes and development of a Population Exposure Index
- 5 An integrated approach to Determining Volcanic Risk in Auckland, New Zealand: the multi-disciplinary DEVORA project
- 6 Tephra fall hazard for the Neapolitan area
- 7 Eruptions and lahars of Mount Pinatubo, 1991-2000
- 8 Improving crisis decision-making at times of uncertain volcanic unrest (Guadeloupe, 1976)
- 9 Forecasting the November 2010 eruption of Merapi, Indonesia
- 10 The importance of communication in hazard zone areas: case study during and after 2010 Merapi eruption, Indonesia
- 11 Nyiragongo (Democratic Republic of Congo), January 2002: a major eruption in the midst of a complex humanitarian emergency
- 12 Volcanic ash fall impacts
- 13 Health impacts of volcanic eruptions
- 14 Volcanoes and the aviation industry
- 15 The role of volcano observatories in risk reduction
- 16 Developing effective communication tools for volcanic hazards in New Zealand, using social science
- 17 Volcano monitoring from space
- 18 Volcanic unrest and short-term forecasting capacity
- 19 Global monitoring capacity: development of the Global Volcano Research and Monitoring Institutions Database and analysis of monitoring in Latin America
- 20 Volcanic hazard maps
- 21 Risk assessment case history: the Soufrière Hills Volcano, Montserrat
- 22 Development of a new global Volcanic Hazard Index (VHI)
- 23 Global distribution of volcanic threat
- 24 Scientific communication of uncertainty during volcanic emergencies
- 25 Volcano Disaster Assistance Program: Preventing volcanic crises from becoming disasters and advancing science diplomacy
- 26 Communities coping with uncertainty and reducing their risk: the collaborative monitoring and management of volcanic activity with the vigías of Tungurahua
- Index
- Online Appendix A
- Online Appendix B - part 1 (low res)
- Online Appendix B - part 2 (low res)
26 - Communities coping with uncertainty and reducing their risk: the collaborative monitoring and management of volcanic activity with the vigías of Tungurahua
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 August 2015
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Contributors
- Foreword
- Preface
- Acknowledgements
- 1 An introduction to global volcanic hazard and risk
- 2 Global volcanic hazard and risk
- 3 Volcanic ash fall hazard and risk
- 4 Populations around Holocene volcanoes and development of a Population Exposure Index
- 5 An integrated approach to Determining Volcanic Risk in Auckland, New Zealand: the multi-disciplinary DEVORA project
- 6 Tephra fall hazard for the Neapolitan area
- 7 Eruptions and lahars of Mount Pinatubo, 1991-2000
- 8 Improving crisis decision-making at times of uncertain volcanic unrest (Guadeloupe, 1976)
- 9 Forecasting the November 2010 eruption of Merapi, Indonesia
- 10 The importance of communication in hazard zone areas: case study during and after 2010 Merapi eruption, Indonesia
- 11 Nyiragongo (Democratic Republic of Congo), January 2002: a major eruption in the midst of a complex humanitarian emergency
- 12 Volcanic ash fall impacts
- 13 Health impacts of volcanic eruptions
- 14 Volcanoes and the aviation industry
- 15 The role of volcano observatories in risk reduction
- 16 Developing effective communication tools for volcanic hazards in New Zealand, using social science
- 17 Volcano monitoring from space
- 18 Volcanic unrest and short-term forecasting capacity
- 19 Global monitoring capacity: development of the Global Volcano Research and Monitoring Institutions Database and analysis of monitoring in Latin America
- 20 Volcanic hazard maps
- 21 Risk assessment case history: the Soufrière Hills Volcano, Montserrat
- 22 Development of a new global Volcanic Hazard Index (VHI)
- 23 Global distribution of volcanic threat
- 24 Scientific communication of uncertainty during volcanic emergencies
- 25 Volcano Disaster Assistance Program: Preventing volcanic crises from becoming disasters and advancing science diplomacy
- 26 Communities coping with uncertainty and reducing their risk: the collaborative monitoring and management of volcanic activity with the vigías of Tungurahua
- Index
- Online Appendix A
- Online Appendix B - part 1 (low res)
- Online Appendix B - part 2 (low res)
Summary
Long-lived episodic volcanic eruptions share the risk characteristics of other forms of extensive hazard (such as flood, drought or landslides). They also have the capacity for escalations to high intensity, high impact events. Volcán Tungurahua in the Ecuadorian Andes has been in eruption since 1999. The management of risk in areas surrounding the volcano has been facilitated by a network of community-based monitoring volunteers that has grown to fulfil multiple risk reduction roles in collaboration with the scientists and authorities.
Inception and evolution
Renewed activity from Tungurahua (1999) prompted the evacuation, via Presidential Order, of the large tourist town of Baños and surrounding communities. Social unrest associated with the displacement and attendant loss of livelihood culminated in a forcible civil re-occupation of the land, crossing and over-running military checkpoints (Le Pennec et al., 2012). This reoccupation prompted a radical re-think of management strategy around the volcanic hazard, shifting emphasis from enforcement to communication (Mothes et al., 2015). This enabled the community to continue their way of life alongside the volcano when it is relatively quiet and to prepare for and rapidly mobilise themselves during acute activity.
To do this, a network of volunteers, formed from people already living in the communities at risk, was created with two main goals in mind: (i) to facilitate timely evacuations as part of the Civil Defence communication network, including the management of sirens, and (ii) to communicate observations about the volcano to the scientists (Stone et al., 2014). These volunteers are collectively referred to as ‘vigías’ and their input provides a pragmatic solution to the need for better monitoring observations and improved early warning systems when communities are living in relative proximity to the hazard. As a part of the solution, the communities feel strong ownership and involvement with the network (Stone et al., 2014). The communication pathways, formal and informal are shown in Figure 26.1.
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- Information
- Global Volcanic Hazards and Risk , pp. 385 - 388Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2015
- Creative Commons
- This content is Open Access and distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence CC-BY-NC-ND 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/cclicenses/