Lessons from world- famous volcanoes

Years ago, then Rep. Lally Laurel Trinidad of Tanauan, Batangas arranged a field trip for my 150 school teachers and personnel to Taal volcano in colorful bancas. Young Phivolcs volcanologists accompanied us to explain the various phenomena of volcanology. We motored from the observatory station to the old and new baby craters of Taal’s blue lake.

Batangas province, they say, is the original volcano. Phivolcs maintains observatories in the sites of the country’s currently active volcanoes, which are tourist sites during lull periods. I guess now its off limits since the recent Batangas earthquakes.

The new volcanology vocabulary

Due to the 1991 Mt. Pinatubo eruption, we are now aware of volcanology words like magma, lava, ash, lahar, pyroclastics, lapilli, and caldera. To sort out the mystery of this calamity, let me explain these words.

The cross section of the earth reveals the extremely hot “liquid core” rock of the earth, surrounded by the slightly cooler rocks of the “outer core” and the “magma” layer below the surface of the earth. When the “magma” forces its way to the outer shell of the earth, a volcano forms. 

When the magma emerges, it is called lava. If it is rich in silica, then the lava will be sticky or viscous, and is considered acidic. Basic lava has less silica and is more fluid.

Pyroclastics are the dust particles and the rocks of several centimeters that are blown out by the explosion.

Lapilli, the large cinders, fall near the crater but the dust particles travel several miles. Volcanic bombs are lumps of liquid lava, blown out of the crater. All products of explosion emerge through a pipe called the vent through the top or crater.

Some craters are small and others are large where it is even possible for geologists to camp and study new rocks, such as in Mt. Etna, Sicily. Large craters are called calderas. These are volcano peaks that have collapsed on itself. One of the biggest is the Crater Lake of Oregon, USA — nine kilometers in diameter, 600 meters deep. Mt. Pinatubo crater is a caldera.

Two-thirds of all volcanoes exist in the Pacific Ocean

Two-thirds of all volcanoes exist around the edge of the Pacific Ocean in what is called “The Ring of Fire.” This extends from New Zealand through Indonesia (28 active volcanoes), the Philippines (21), Japan (55), the Kamchatka Peninsula (25), the Aleutian Islands (18), Alaska (15), and down the west coast of North America to Central America including Mexico (42).

The rest of the active volcanoes are Mt. Pelee, the most famous in the West Indies; Vulcano, Mt. Etna and Stromboli, all of which are in Italy in the Mediterranean; Mt. Katla, Iceland in the mid-Atlantic Ridge, and the snow-covered Mt. Kilimanjaro in Africa.

Even the South Pole contains several volcano peaks, namely Mt. Bird, Terror, and Erebus.

 If a volcano has no recorded eruption between 4,000 to 5,000 years, then it is extinct. If it has not erupted for many centuries, it is considered dormant. 

Of the thousand volcanoes on the earth’s surface, 300 to 600 are active. Large volcanoes tend to develop secondary cones, which may ultimately become bigger than the main crater. Later on it may be recorded as a new volcano, just like Taal Volcano in Batangas.

The deadly explosion of Krakatoa in Indonesia

Krakatoa is a small island located between Indonesia’s two largest islands — Sumatra (larger than Mindanao) and Java. In 1883, the volcano’s vast explosion blew off two–thirds of the small, uninhabited island. Gases and lava spewed 16 kilometers into the air. The ash spread 770,000 square kilometers, and there was darkness for two-and-a-half days. Muddy rain fell on Jakarta, the capital city of Java, where 70 percent of the people reside. The main explosion at 10 a.m. on August 27 was heard 3,200 kilometers away in central Australia at 2 p.m.

The tidal wave exceeded 35 meters and reached Africa. Some 295 villages in Java and Sumatra were flooded. A Dutch warship was carried nearly three kilometers up a valley, and about 36,000 people were killed.

Japan’s public safety program for calamities

In 1914, a community in Japan heeded the warnings of Mt. Sakurajima. The authorities ordered a fleet of sampans into the harbor to evacuate some 23,000 people. The following day, the volcano had one of the most massive eruptions in Japanese history. The people who escaped its fury returned, and today their children and grandchildren till fertile new fields that cover the old ones. Though foiled, Sakurajima has held no grudge.

Accustomed to daily earthquakes (the more turbulent ones accompanied by fire) and frequent tsunamis, the Japanese have trained whole communities to respond to the danger signs. The whole town has evacuation drills with the Mayor, his counselors, public health and safety authorities.

They know what to do as soon as the public siren wails. Housewives switch off electricity and electronic devices, and lock windows and doors. With barely any baggage, women and children form a chain, holding on to official bright colored ropes. Guides silently and quickly lead them to safe places. Trucks ply the major streets barking “last calls” to laggards.

Storms, earthquakes, forest fires, and drought are increasing in intensity and destruction. Like the pattern of tides in which there is ebb and flow, there is also a lull in natural disasters but this should not give us the false illusion of safety.

Heed Mary’s message to the world

Since spiritual prediction includes the likelihood of the earth turning on its axis, thus creating vast changes over many continents and oceans, the World Mother’s message is the following:

“Residents of planet Earth, heed these warnings. You are living in perilous times. Now is the time to come to God with an open heart and mind, and to fill yourselves to capacity with the Hope of God. This will be the only way to endure the trying times, which you face.”