Scientists share lessons from Kilauea at Cities on Volcanoes conference

USGS photo by M. Patrick How do you keep people safe when lava is rapidly advancing through communities? This was just one of the topics addressed during the Cities on Volcanoes 10 meeting in Naples, Italy, last week. Lava flows recently erupted from Kilauea Volcano’s lower East Rift Zone inundated hundreds of homes in the lower Puna District of Hawaii Island. Here, lava enters the Pacific Ocean on June 6, south of the remaining homes in Kapoho Beach Lots subdivision.

In 1902, Thomas A. Jaggar, a geologist and founder of the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory, visited the scene of one of the most deadly volcanic disasters in modern history: Mount Pelee on the Caribbean Island of Martinique.