October 28, 2022
14:36
Hawaiian authorities have warned Big Island residents that the world’s largest active volcano, Mauna Loa, is sending out signals that it could erupt.
Scientists believe an eruption is not imminent, but they are on high alert due to a recent increase in earthquakes on the volcano’s summit.
According to experts, if the volcano erupts, it will only take a few hours for the lava to reach the houses closest to the crater.
The Civil Protection Agency of Hawaii is holding meetings across the island to educate residents on how to prepare for a possible emergency.
The Big Island is home to around 200,000 people, including comedian Roseanne Barr, who took ownership in 2007 and has lived there for the past several years. Oscar-winning actor Matthew McConaughey bought a $ 7.85 million home in 2021, but spends most of his time in his home state of Texas.
The volcano makes up 51% of the Big Island’s landmass, so much of it has the potential to be hit by an eruption, officials said. They recommend that people keep a bag of food and designate an evacuation location if they are called to leave their home.
“I don’t want to scare everyone, but they should be aware that they live on the slopes of Mauna Loa. There is the potential for some sort of lava disaster, ”said Talmadge Magno, Hawaii County Civil Defense Administrator.
The volcano last erupted in 1984. Over the past 38 years, the island’s population has doubled to 200,000 today from 92,000 in 1980.
Mauna Loa, which rises 4,169m above sea level, is the much higher neighbor of the Kilauea volcano, which erupted in a residential area and destroyed 700 homes in 2018. Also, some of its slopes are much steeper than those of Kilauea, so when it erupts, its lava can flow much faster.
During an eruption in 1950, the lava traveled 20 kilometers to the ocean in less than three hours.
The Hawaiian Volcano Observatory, part of the US Geological Survey, said Mauna Loa has been in a state of “heightened concern” since the middle of last month, when the number of earthquakes at the summit increased from 10-20 per day to 40-50 per day.
Scientists think more earthquakes are occurring because more magma is flowing into the reservoir system at the top of Mauna Loa from the subsurface hot spot that feeds molten rock to Hawaii’s volcanoes. The frequency of the tremors has decreased in the past few days, but may increase again, bg-voice reported.
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