Photographs: Patricio Arias, Héctor Moyano and Ingrid Silva.
Researchers from Chile and Argentina, with emerging scientific profiles and multiple disciplines, carried out an analysis of 430 documents on volcanic eruptions that occurred in the last 35 years, showing that almost 50 percent of these studies refer to the impacts caused by the eruptions. eruptions and volcanic risk in the “Southern Volcanic Zone of the Andes (ZVS)”. Sufficient reasons to incorporate this reflective synthesis of knowledge into the design of public policies that can contribute, both to decision-making and to disaster risk reduction in the Andean region.
An “overwhelming library”
For the associate researcher of the Institute of Engineering Sciences (ICI) of the University of O’Higgins (UOH) and leader of the study, Dr. Jorge Romero Moyano, the results of the analysis allow updating the existing “overwhelming library” regarding the volcanic activity included from the Metropolitan Region to that of Aysén, which accounts for more than a dozen eruptions, including the effects produced by the Chaitén, Cordón Caulle and Calbuco volcanoes, recently. The study also focuses on the internal behavior of volcanoes and its implications, which provide important background information on their dangers and consequences, thereby facilitating monitoring and forecasts that could anticipate future volcanic eruptions.
“This work arises from the need to reflect and draw out the learning and knowledge that has been built regarding these latest eruptions that occurred in the Southern Andes. On the other hand, the data obtained from this specialized analysis is essential so that the new generations of volcanologists, from Chile and Argentina, who did not necessarily participate in these emergencies, can process this information, to be incorporated into the taking. of decisions, and in the design of public policies for the mitigation of volcanic risks.”
A necessary symbiosis
The UOH researcher, while recognizing the investment in specialized human capital, and in infrastructure and technology for volcano monitoring by the governments of Chile and Argentina, also points out that limited knowledge about volcanic systems can be combated with collaboration with those who study energy and mineral resources related to volcanoes. In addition, he indicated that greater financing is required to update instrumentation, capabilities and analysis of potentially risky threats in populations, which have continued to grow in volcanic environments, without regulation or planning.
“The latter means a serious problem that requires adequate governance where communities are included, seeing them as part of the solution, which is why we propose, then, a symbiosis between Social and Earth Sciences to address these problems that have recently we begin to understand. Geological education and disaster memory studies in the Andean region also represent valuable potential to advance concrete solutions to reduce the risk of future eruptions,” Romero points out.
He adds that this work seeks to release “part of the knowledge stored in magazines accessible only by subscription or payment, democratizing access through a free and national platform.”
On the other hand, the researcher recognizes the contribution of the co-authors of this bibliographic study, such as Francisca Vergara, anthropologist and doctoral candidate at the University of Manchester (United Kingdom); Dr. Pablo Forte, volcanologist at the Argentine Volcanic Monitoring Observatory; Dr. José Tomás Ovalle, researcher at the University of Michigan (USA), and Florencia Sánchez, geologist and doctoral candidate at the University of Minho (Portugal).
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