Fuego Volcano Eruption - Case Study 3

Question 1

Where is Fuego located in relation to famous places?

Answer 1

27 miles SW of Guatemala City (the capital)

16 km west from Antigua a very popular tourist destination

Question 2

The 2018 eruption - Time line of events:

Answer 2

June 3rd - Fuego erupts for the second time in 2018; clouds of smoke and ash billow from the volcano and lava engulfs nearby villages
June 4th - Fuego erupts again several times but with less force
June 5th - Strong explosions causes a new pyroclastic flow that sends rescuers and civilians fleeing
June 6th and 7th - Search and rescue teams continue to push through ash and debris to reach villages buried under lava and debris
June 8th - Government authorities called for new evacuations as accumulated ash threatens to spill into new areas
June 17th - Guatemala disaster agency discontinues searching for victims in the worst affected areas
June 18th to present - Fuego continues to spew ash on a regular basis and the government still tries to help families

Question 3

Volcanic ash

Answer 3

15 km in height

Spread over a 12 mile radius

Question 4

Pyroclastic Flows

Answer 4

Fast moving louds of hot gas and volcanic matter
Left no evacuation time and therefore caused many of the casualties and crop damage
Travel 62-430mph and temperatures up to 1000 degrees C

Question 5

Lahars

Answer 5

Ash mixed with heavy rainfall travels down the hill like a mudflow and will set like concrete
Buried several villages and cut off roadways
Due to Lahars rescue attempts had to be suspended on June 3rd

Question 6

Environmental impacts

Answer 6

Destroyed an estimated 21,000 acres of corn, bean and coffee crops

Question 7

How many people were killed, injured and went missing by the volanoes?

Answer 7

190 killed
57 injured
256 missing as of 30 July 2018

Question 8

How many people were evacuated and how many were being accommodated in temporary shelters?

Answer 8

12,000 evacuated

3,000 people accommodated

Question 9

How many people affected by ashfall?

Answer 9

1.7 million people

Question 10

Why did the airport have to close and when did reopen?

Answer 10

Only 25 miles away from volcano so had to close due to ash on tarmac
Reopened on June 4th

Question 11

How many buildings were estimated to be destroyed by pyroclastic flow

Answer 11

411

Question 12

Why was there limited response to the eruption?

Answer 12

President Morales said he couldn’t spend a penny of the governments budgets on the disaster

Question 13

How many hours early did seismologists give CONRED for evacuations and how long did CONRED give before the volcano erupted?

Answer 13

Seismologists gave CONRED 8 hours

CONRED gave the population 5 hours (and only voluntary evacuations)

Question 14

Why was it really difficult to know how many people died?

Answer 14

Guatemala’s 2012 census cancelled for political reasons meant that know one actually knew who lived in the disaster zone

Question 15

What were the attempts to mitigate the event?

Answer 15

There were no attempts to mitigate the event

Question 16

What were the attempts to mitigate against vulnerability?

Answer 16

CONRED was created to prevent disasters and to reduce their impact on society
Seismometers showed shallow frequent earthquakes
4 day flight ban following eruption
Eventually (after eruption had occurred) >3000 people evacuated to nearby towns in public buildings such as schools and football stadiums

Question 17

What were the attempts to mitigate against loss?

Answer 17

Initial evacuation led by volunteer fire fighters but it was very difficult
Severely wounded individuals sent to Mexico and USA (rescue effort hindered by bad weather0
CONRED the day after sent out evac teams of 1200
CONRED opened temporary shelters for those forced to flee

Question 18

What are the criticisms of mitigation strategies?

Answer 18

CONRED failed to pass on the info that an eruption will occur in time meaning people were still in the disaster zone when Fuego erupted
Training the residents received was rendered useless as the eruption was too quick
Although 21 evac shelters were set up however the populations within the shelters was lower then the number of people evacuated
Some people had to return home to the volcano for the fertile soils
Corrupt government didn’t spend any money on mitigation