The weather.com website headline read,
“Ensenada, Chile, ‘Ghost Town’ After Twin Volcanic Eruptions Blanket Area in Ash”
This event occurred on Wednesday, April 22, 2015.
They are by no means the only volcanoes erupting. The week of April 15, 2015, the Smithsonian – United States Geological Survey reported 21 volcanoes displaying activity. Of them, 15 have been going on for sometime and 6 are newly active this month.
In terms of sheer numbers, that is not unusual. The Volcano Discovery website stated,
“At any given time, there is an average of about 20 volcanoes that are erupting.”
Other Seismic Events
However, history shows that significant volcanic eruptions can radically disrupt our lives.
The Washington Post April 24, 2015 headline read,
“The epic volcano eruption that led to the ‘Year Without a Summer’”
It said that the recent Chilean volcanic eruptions are not expected to greatly impact this year’s weather. However, the Washington Post article covered other larger volcano eruptions of the last 200 years that have dramatically impacted our planet and us.
On Saturday April 24, 2015 of the same week, Nepal experienced an earthquake. At a magnitude of 7.8, it is clearly a major one.
Plainly, even with all of our technological advances including those in the area of seismic activity detection, the actual prevention of these major devastating natural disasters lies beyond us.
Photo credit: Philip Oyarzo Calisto (CC license permission)
Read the Weather.com article here
Read the Washington Post article here
