Supporting the Development of Procedures for Communications During Volcanic Emergencies: Lessons Learnt from the Canary Island (Spain) and Etna and Stromboli (Italy)

Solana, M.C. and Calvari, S and Kilburn, C and Gutierrez, H and Chester, David K. and Duncan, A (2017) Supporting the Development of Procedures for Communications During Volcanic Emergencies: Lessons Learnt from the Canary Island (Spain) and Etna and Stromboli (Italy). In: Observing the Volcano World: Volcano Crisis Communication. Advances In Volcanology . Springer, Berlin. ISBN 978-3-319-44097-2

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Abstract

Volcanic crises are complex and especially challenging to manage. Volcanic unrest is characterised by uncertainty about: whether an eruption will or will not take place; and its possible location, size and evolution. In addition, the hazards presented by an eruption and the variety of disciplines involved in forecasting and responding to volcanic emergencies, makes planning extremely complicated. On frequently active volcanoes crises often run smoothly because of the experience gained through the continual ‘testing’ of systems of communication. Even when plans have not been officially put in place, all the groups involved have an understanding of their roles and responsibilities and those of other parties. On dormant volcanoes where several generations have not experienced eruptions, there is added uncertainty, not only about the volcanic system per se, but also about the lack of experience of scientists, crisis directors, managers and the public. In such situations communication may be characterised by tensions and misunderstandings, and these have the potential to both affect decision making and delay vital operations. In this paper we present different experiences on communicating information during past volcanic crises on volcanoes that are continuosly active (Etna and Stromboli volcanoes in Sicily) and on a dormant volcano (the El Hierro eruption in the Canary Islands), allowing strategies to improve communications during volcanic emergencies to be proposed. Based on the El Hierro experience, we highlight key aspects that a protocol for communications should consider.

Item Type:	Book Section
Additional Information and Comments:	Available under Open Access. This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made. Published version is available at https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/11157_2016_48
Faculty / Department:	Faculty of Human and Digital Sciences > School of Computer Science and the Environment
Depositing User:	David Chester
Date Deposited:	26 May 2017 08:18
Last Modified:	14 Jan 2025 09:47
URI:	https://hira.hope.ac.uk/id/eprint/1984

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