The Volcano Disaster Assistance Program (VDAP) was developed by the U.S. Geological Survey and the
United States Agency for International Development
The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is an independent agency of the U.S. federal government that is primarily responsible for administering civilian foreign aid and development assistance. With a budget of over $27 b ...
's Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance after the eruption of
Nevado del Ruiz
The Nevado del Ruiz (), also known as La Mesa de Herveo ( en, Mesa of Herveo, the name of the nearby town) is a volcano on the border of the departments of Caldas and Tolima in Colombia, about west of the capital city Bogotá. It is a stratov ...
(Colombia) in 1985. The volcanic eruption melted a
glacier
A glacier (; ) is a persistent body of dense ice that is constantly moving under its own weight. A glacier forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its ablation over many years, often centuries. It acquires distinguishing features, such a ...
triggering a
lahar
A lahar (, from jv, ꦮ꧀ꦭꦲꦂ) is a violent type of mudflow or debris flow composed of a slurry of pyroclastic material, rocky debris and water. The material flows down from a volcano, typically along a river valley.
Lahars are extr ...
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
The David A. Johnston Cascades Volcano Observatory (CVO) is a volcano observatory in the US that monitors volcanoes in the northern Cascade Range. It was established in the summer of 1980, after the eruption of Mount St. Helens.Tilling, R.I. (2010), Volcanic hazards and their mitigation: Progress and problems,Reviews of geophysics, 27,2
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
Monitoring may refer to:
Science and technology Biology and healthcare
* Monitoring (medicine), the observation of a disease, condition or one or several medical parameters over time
* Baby monitoring
* Biomonitoring, of toxic chemical compounds, ...
in hazardous areas. The small group of scientists involved in the program work on eruption forecasting and assessing the hazards in volcanically active areas. This is usually carried out when there is not a crisis to work on.
This kind of work has been carried out in Central and South America since 1998, Papua New Guinea (1998-2000) and Indonesia since 2004.
Training
VDAP holds workshops and training courses around the world. Many of these involve remote sensing and
Geographic information system
A geographic information system (GIS) is a type of database containing geographic data (that is, descriptions of phenomena for which location is relevant), combined with software tools for managing, analyzing, and visualizing those data. In a ...
(GIS) modelling. VDAP assists as part of CSAV (Center for the Study of Active Volcanism) CSAV /ref> a six-week international course in Hawaii and Vancouver, WA. The students include geologists, geochemists and geophysicists, who receive training in the science behind volcano monitoring.VDAP Training /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 Volcano, Chile.