1. VOLCANIC ERUPTIONS: POTENTIAL MEGA-DISASTERS IN SLOW MOTION Based on Evaluations by the Smithsonian Institution Stimulated by the Current Ongoing Eruptions of Mount Merapi in Indonesia OCTOBER 25 - NOVEMBER ?, 2010 Walter Hays, Global Alliance for Disaster Reduction, University of North Carolina, USA

2. Mount Merapi’s current eruptions in 2010, which started on October 25 th, have caused a mega-disaster in slow motion with no end yet in sight

3. MOUNT MERAPI, INDONESIA (CREDIT: JESSE ALLEN)

4. The wind blows the ash from Mount Merapi westward, where it rains down from the sky, scorching the earth, and crushing the vegetation (e.g., tropical fruit trees such as mangosteens, rambutans and snake fruit grown by local farmers), …

5. ---causing healthcare problems (e.g., smoke inhalation, burns, amputations, skin problems, cuts, other injuries) for millions,….

6. … destroying habitats and livelihoods, disrupting air traffic and business as usual, displacing over 250,000 people, and killing over 218 people.

7. At present, November 13 th 2010, life for people living near Mount Merapi and in evacuation camps is dangerous and difficult, and it could continue that way for a long time..

8. Subandriyo, a government vulcanologist in Yogyakarta, estimates that Mount Merapi, Indonesia's youngest volcano, has disgorged approximately 4.6 billion cubic feet of rocks, sand, dust and gas between October 25 th and November 13 th.

9. FIVE OTHER DANGEROUS VOLCANOES CAPABLE OF CAUSING SLOW-MOTION DISASTERS SANGAY, ECUADOR STROMBOLI, ITALY MT. ETNA, ITALY MOUNT YASUR, VANUATU SANTA MARIA, GUATEMALA

10. SANGAY, ECUADOR

11. Sangay’s steep-sided volcanic cone, which reaches a height of 17,158 feet (5,230 meters), has been characterized by: 1) a historical eruption in 1628, 2) more or less continuous eruptions from 1728 until 1916, and 3) continuous eruptions again from 1934 to the present.

12. STROMBOLI, ITALY

13. The island of Stromboli, off the west coast of southern Italy and the north coast of Sicily, is the tip of a massive underwater volcano that has been erupting nearly continuously in a “Strombolian” explosive mode for over 2,000 years.

14. MT. ETNA, ITALY

15. Mount Etna, currently around 10,958 feet (3,340 meters) in height and the largest active volcano in Europe, has erupted around 200 times, including a huge eruption in 1969 and another eruption in 2001 that generated lava flows that almost reached Nicolosi

16. MOUNT YASUR, VANUATU

17. Mount Yasur, an active volcano on Tanna Island and a part of the archipelago nation of Vanuatu in the South Pacific, has been erupting nearly continuously for over a century with strombolian- type eruptionsk, often occurring several times an hour.

18. SANTA MARIA, GUATEMALA

19. Santa Maria, a 12,375-foot (3,772- meter) tall stratovolcano, had a catastrophic eruption in 1902, one of the largest eruptions of the 20th century, that caused severe damage throughout southwestern Guatemala