The eruption of the Hunga Tonga volcano in the Tonga archipelago in January 2022, draw attention to the devastating consequences these phenomena can have. With an unprecedented force that made the explosion noticeable even in Barcelona, this explosive event in the Pacific Ocean caused a tsunami that caused irreparable damage to the coast of the Polynesian country.
But experts warn: The risks of events of this strength or greater in the coming years are significant.. They also stress that the world is “unfortunately poorly prepared” for a major volcanic eruption.
The Hungarian-Tongan eruption in January was the largest ever recorded. But experts argue that: Had the volcanic activity continued for a long time, the results could have been devastating.. Global risk expert Dr. “The Tongan boom should be treated as a wake-up call,” explains Lara Mani.
He adds to this that the data collected so far suggests. There is a one-sixth probability of erupting seven times the size of the Tonga volcano in the next hundred years.. “Such massive eruptions have caused abrupt climate changes and the collapse of civilizations in the distant past,” warns the researcher.
Lack of “reckless” investment
As Mani points out in a study published in the journal ‘Nature’, Lack of government investment in “monitoring and responding to potential volcanic disasters”. The professor at Cambridge University’s Center for the Study of Existential Risk argues there is a “common misconception” that the risks of big explosions are low.
“Hundreds of millions of dollars are invested each year in asteroid threats, but there is a severe lack of funding and global coordination for preparing volcanoes,” the volcanologist insists. compares the results of a big bang with the impact of a kilometer-wide asteroid.
Co-author of that study, Dr. Mike Cassidy cites a historical precedent in volcanic activity: “The last magnitude 7 explosion occurred in Indonesia in 1815. An estimated 100,000 people died. Locally and global temperatures dropped by an average degree, causing major crop losses, leading to famines, violent riots and epidemics during the period known as the no-summer year,” explains the researcher.
“We now live in a world with eight times the population and more than forty times the level of trade. Our complex global networks can make us even more vulnerable to the effects of a big bang,” adds Cassidy.
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Contact address of the environment department: crizclimatica@prensaiberica.es
Source: Informacion
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