The Volcano Disaster Assistance Program (VDAP) was founded by the
U.S. Geological Survey
The United States Geological Survey (USGS), founded as the Geological Survey, is an agency of the U.S. Department of the Interior whose work spans the disciplines of biology, geography, geology, and hydrology. The agency was founded on March ...
and the
United States Agency for International Development
The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is an agency of the United States government that has been responsible for administering civilian foreign aid and development assistance.
Established in 1961 and reorganized in 1998 ...
's Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance after the eruption of
Nevado del Ruiz
Nevado del Ruiz (), also known as La Mesa de Herveo () is a volcano on the border of the departments of Caldas and Tolima in Colombia, being the highest point of both. It is located about west of the capital city Bogotá. It is a stratovolca ...
(Colombia) in 1985.
[Ewert J.E. and others, 1997, Mobile Response Team Saves Lives in Volcano Crises, USGS Fact Sheet 964-97. DOI: 10.3133/fs06497 6 p.](_blank)
The volcanic eruption melted a
glacier
A glacier (; or ) is a persistent body of dense ice, a form of rock, that is constantly moving downhill under its own weight. A glacier forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its ablation over many years, often centuries. It acquires ...
triggering a
lahar
A lahar (, from ) is a violent type of mudflow or debris flow composed of a slurry of Pyroclastic rock, pyroclastic material, rocky debris and water. The material flows down from a volcano, typically along a valley, river valley.
Lahars are o ...
that killed 25,000 people. It was determined that increased monitoring and enhanced communications between scientists and civil authorities would make it easier to evacuate local populations and save lives. Today the program responds to volcanic crises around the world. The aim of the program is to assist in saving lives and property, to reduce economic losses, and to prevent a natural hazard becoming a natural disaster. VDAP staff members are based at the USGS
Cascades Volcano Observatory, in Vancouver, Washington. VDAP channels its energy into four main activities: response to natural disaster, capacity building, training, and volcanological research.
[Tilling, R.I. 1989, Volcanic hazards and their mitigation: Progress and problems, Reviews of Geophysics, 27,2](_blank)
/ref> In 2024, VDAP received the American Geophysical Union
The American Geophysical Union (AGU) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization of Earth, Atmospheric science, atmospheric, Oceanography, ocean, Hydrology, hydrologic, Astronomy, space, and Planetary science, planetary scientists and enthusiasts that ...
's International Award for its sustained effort in volcanic disaster risk reduction.[International Award Winners on AGU website](_blank)
/ref>[USGS Website Article Jan 2024](_blank)
/ref>
Response
VDAP responds primarily to ‘non-domestic’ eruptions outside the United States. Since 1986, the team has responded to over 70 major events around the world. Scores of other remote responses involve consultations with the relevant local observatories. A subset of foreign responses are listed in the following table and on the map.
Preparation and Monitoring
Capacity building involves the development of education and monitoring in hazardous areas. VDAP staff install equipment, teach field methods, train on eruption forecasting methods and assess hazards in volcanically active areas. The work is a major focus for VDAP staff and is undertaken around the world.[Lowenstern, J.B., and Ramsey, D.W., 2017, The Volcano Disaster Assistance Program—Helping to save lives worldwide for more than 30 years: U.S. Geological Survey Fact Sheet 2017–3071, 6 p., https://doi.org/10.3133/fs20173071.](_blank)
/ref>
Training
VDAP holds workshops and training courses around the world. These include volcano seismology, geodesy
Geodesy or geodetics is the science of measuring and representing the Figure of the Earth, geometry, Gravity of Earth, gravity, and Earth's rotation, spatial orientation of the Earth in Relative change, temporally varying Three-dimensional spac ...
, remote sensing
Remote sensing is the acquisition of information about an physical object, object or phenomenon without making physical contact with the object, in contrast to in situ or on-site observation. The term is applied especially to acquiring inform ...
and Geographic information system
A geographic information system (GIS) consists of integrated computer hardware and Geographic information system software, software that store, manage, Spatial analysis, analyze, edit, output, and Cartographic design, visualize Geographic data ...
(GIS) modelling. VDAP funds and assists the 8-week annual international field course run by the University of Hawaii's CSAV (Center for the Study of Active Volcanism) [CSAV website at University of Hawaii Hilo](_blank)
/ref> in Hilo, Hawaii and Vancouver, WA. The students include geologists, geochemists and geophysicists, who receive training in the science behind volcano monitoring.[Sarmiento, J.P. et al., 2022, Assessing human resources development in volcano observatories using the knowledge, attitude, and practice survey. Natural Hazards Review, v. 23, no. 4, doi:10.1061/(ASCE)NH.1527-6996.0000592](_blank)
/ref>
Research
VDAP supports projects which improve the forecasting of eruptions or better characterize the effects of previous eruptions. Examples of this include research at Pinatubo and Chaitén
Chaitén (, ) is a Chilean List of towns in Chile, town, Communes of Chile, commune and former capital of the Palena Province in Los Lagos Region. The town is north of the mouth of Yelcho River, on the east coast of the Gulf of Corcovado. The town ...
Volcano, Chile.
References
External links
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{{Authority control
United States Geological Survey
Disaster management
Volcanology