Mount St. Helens Shoots Steam, Ash

Wynken de Word writes "Months after the preliminary signs starting showing, Washington State's Mount St. Helens is sending a plume of steam and ash 7,600 metres into the air as of Tuesday, 17:25 PST. See the U.S. Geological Survey site for more updates and, come daylight, check out the Mount St. Helens VolcanoCam."

Comments

Did we actually LEARN anything?

[SamMichaels]

This happened before...quite recently in the grand scheme of things. Lives were lost, lives were ruined, towns destroyed. There's a small vial of dust sitting on a shelf in my parents' house.

I'd be interested in hearing about the new technology since then as well as what they plan to do. Detailed info seems scarce on the geological site.

Re:Did we actually LEARN anything?

[DAldredge]

What we plan to do.

Well, since it is a VOLCANO, we are going to get the hell out of the way and sit back and watch as nothing we can do will make a damn bit of difference.

Re:Did we actually LEARN anything?

[JanneM]

There is no place on the planet that is *completely* safe from natural disaster.

You are absolutely right, of course.

However, it's not a binary choice of "safe" versus "unsafe"; it's a smooth range. And some places are inherently a lot less safe than others.

Living within the expected reach of a known active volcano is one of those less safe places. Just beneath, or on top of, a steep cliff is another. Along a river known to overflow would be a third.

The problem is that we really like those unsafe places, and for good reason. Floods and volcanic eruptions make for good farming. Steep cliffs make for amazing views.

Re:Did we actually LEARN anything?

[ChuckleBug]

As for what "they" (the USGS is whom I presume you mean) plan to do, I imagine it is sit down and watch, issuing warnings if and when they are needed.

I read a book about Mt. Rainier (or as we call it up here, "The Mountain") in which the story was told of a USGS person who had to lay low in Orting as the bearer of bad news. He had been trying to get people to prepare for the possibility of a lahar like the Electron, which went right through where Orting now is. They asked him, "What can we do?" He said, "Get to high ground real fast." "No," they asked, "what do we do to protect our homes?" "Nothing," he said. They kept asking questions, and when he kept telling them there is nothing to be done to prevent this, many of them just got mad at him.

This is not to disparage the citizens of Orting. I understand they have a very good evacuation plan in place. But the initial reaction to the bad news appeared to be blaming the messenger.

It's hard for people to accept that there are forces of nature from which we can't shield ourselves. All we can do is try to get out of the way.

Re:Not quite as funny...

[PMuse]

What is interesting is that there was absolutely ZERO warning. There had been some minor tremors in the hours before, but nothing that would indicate something on this scale.

People who live near volcanos (and earthquake faults and hurricane zones and tornado alleys and flood zones and . . . ) can acquire such an interesting perspective on what "no warning" means.

I mean, it's a _volcano_. It warned us in 1980. What more can we expect?