Nevado del Ruiz

Question 1

When?

Answer 1

13th November 1985

Question 2

Where?

Answer 2

Nevado del Ruiz, Colombia (LEDC)

Question 3

Erupted after…

Answer 3

…a year of minor earthquakes and steam explosions.

Question 4

What had the volcano been called previously?

Answer 4

The ‘sleeping lion’ by local towns because it had been dormant for almost 150 years.

Question 5

What were the primary impacts?

Answer 5

Hot clouds of ash and gas (nuees ardentes), magma thrown into the air from volcanic vent, pyroclastic flow

Question 6

What were the social secondary impacts?

Answer 6

> 500 injured
23,000 died
5,000 destroyed homes (swept away or buried in mud/ash)
Roads blocked (difficult to rescue survivors from deep mud)
Temperature of lahars served as fertile breeding ground for fungi and bacteria (some people with minor cuts died by the infections which couldn’t be treated by known antibiotics)

Question 7

What were the economic secondary impact?

Answer 7

The eruption cost Colombia $7.7billion, which was 20% of the country’s GDP at the time.

Question 8

What were the environmental secondary impacts?

Answer 8

Mud up to 40m deep was deposited in the valleys in the path of the lahars.