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Danger in Paradise

Danger in Paradise

30 geotourism The lesser-known hazardsof Danger inParadise 

EARTH 2012 April I autopsy report two days later revealed the cause and airlifted off the bench byhelicopter. An ing the incident. The bodies were placed in slings tasked with recovering the bodies and investigat- duty officer at the time, who was part of the team a bitofmystery,” saysTravis Heggie,an eruption been hit and killed byflying tephra. “That one was trauma, so rangers knew that the victims had not Eruption Siteandtheydisplayed novisiblesignsof Sara E. Pratt postmortem decay, but by acid rain. The tissue had been decomposed, not bynatural air, or covered by only a single layer of clothing. position occurred where skin was exposed to the The autopsy also noted that the advanced decom lungs, due to the inhalation of hydrochloric acid. of death: pulmonary edema, or swelling of the is littered with chunks of tephra, a glassy volca steam. The area, aptly named the Eruption Site, into the sea, sending up plumes of scalding white site where lava from the Kilauea eruption flows quenched byseawater. into the air when the 2,000-degree-Celsius lava is nic rock, which are formed and ejected violently The two bodies were 100 meters inland from the state of decomposition, were found near the bodies ofamanandwoman, inanadvanced ParkNational discovery. madeagruesome The n November 2000,rangers atHawaii Volcanoes - - Kilauea flowingKilauea into theocean. ocean onDec. 13,2011. March flowing 7,2011.Bottom: Kilauea into the Kilauea’s5, 2011.Middle: explosive eruptionon Above, top: Hawaii’s volcano, Kilauea on March with the winds. of the plume, which can quickly change course worked at the park and likely knew about the risks dent was all the more tragic because the woman not. It’s acid,” Heggie says, adding that the acci deceptively deadly. rosive. The lava haze, or laze, as it is called, can be including hydrochloric acid, which is highly cor water a variety of other toxic gases are produced, hydrofluoric acid. When lava interacts with sea bon dioxide, sulfur dioxide, hydrogen sulfide and “It lookslikeaprettywhite steam cloud,butit’s Lava car including gases, releasestoxic itself www.earthmagazine.org - - - -

Bottom: Tom Pfeiffer/www.volcanodiscovery.com; top three: USGS HVO Bottom: Tom Pfeiffer/www.volcanodiscovery.com; top: Jessica Ball lion visitors a year. More than 1 million people visit at Yellowstone National Park attract roughly 3 mil attracts 2 million visitors; the geothermal features has been erupting almost continuously since 1983, Hawaii Volcanoes NationalPark, whereKilauea Volcano Geotourism ontheRise “Volcano and Geothermal Tourism.” University inJapan, andco-authorofthe2010book in tourism planning at Ritsumeikan Asia-Pacific ous areas,” says Patricia Erfurt-Cooper, a lecturer talking about mass tourism in potentially danger by the rise in popularity of volcano geotourism. volcanoes at and deaths increase,driven areonthe are not unique to Hawaii. Globally, tourist injuries were ramped up. implemented and tourist safety education efforts Heggie says, when stricter safety guidelines were incidents inHawaii have decreasedsince2004, dictable, others bizarre and unexpected. Overall, by a variety of hazards — some mundane and pre tourists are injured, not just byvolcanic laze, but within Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. Eachyear, the top volcano, Maria of Santa Guatemala. Eruption ofSantiaguito , seenfrom around the world every year. In the United States, 45 serious injuries and 53 minor injuries reported www.earthmagazine.org — It looks like apretty, lookslike It white steam cloud, “When we look at the tourist numbers, we are More than 100 million people visit volcanic sites However, thehazards facingtouristsatvolcanoes Between 1992 and 2002, there were 40 fatalities, Travis Heggie, officerat former eruptionduty Hawaii Volcanoes NationalPark hike onthelava flows ofKilauea. William geology students &Mary but it’s not.It’s acid. - - - nologists as part of the UN International Decade for one of 16 “” identified byvolca dormant in Washington, which is says, part of the trend of volcano tourism, a sub- most popular tourist destinations, Erfurt-Cooper and their proximity to large population centers. due to their histories of large, destructive eruptions Natural DisasterReductionasbeingworthy ofstudy including volcanoes. travel-based TV shows focused on exotic locales, is due, in part, to a rise in reality adventure- and that appeals to millions of people every year. That active volcano is just one such extreme attraction envelope furtherandfurther, shesays.Climbing an adventure tourism, in which people are pushing the of the World,” is due to be published this month. next book,“Volcanic Tourist Destinations: Geoparks destinations fortourists,saysErfurt-Cooper, whose and Geoparks, which makes them more attractive canoes arebeingdesignatedasWorld Heritagesites volcano tourism to bring in money, and many vol- few decades. Many governments are promoting ecotourism that has become popular over the last type of geotourism, which is an offshoot of the Decade Volcanoes also happen to be some of the as asthma, lung cancer and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.as asthma,lung cancer and chronic pulmonary obstructive to andexacerbate causelungirritation other respiratoryailments such onprevailingried winds over towns ontheisland. Vog hasbeenfound dioxide per day. acidaerosols andsulfuric areThe particulates thencar smog, orvog. I Health RisksofVog towardIn addition,thereisalsoagrowingtrend During active eruptions, canemitup to active 30,000 tonsDuring Kilauea ofsulfur locals alikehave to contend withthepollutants found involcanic at Kilauea’s EruptionSite inNovember 2000,Hawaiian tourists and n addition to the hydrochloric acid in volcanic a couple laze that killed EARTH -

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EARTH 2012 April graphing alava “skylight” at Kilauea. Pacaya volcano inGuatemala. Bottom: Photo marshmallows Roasting Below: over lava on inEthiopia. Desert Danakil thelavaAle volcano lake inthe Observing ofErta - condition of the tourist. dormant, the weather conditions, and the physical including thetypeof volcano, whether itis active or Geotourism Safety RisksofVolcano Hawaii, Indonesia, Vanuatu and Guatemala. tours to active volcanoes in Italy, Greece, Iceland, adventure and educational travel tours, including pany, founded byvolcanologist Tom Pfeiffer, leads Discovery based in Troisdorf, Germany. The com Schorr, aphotographerandtourguidewithVolcano found that many had pre-existing health issues, of more than 800 hikers leaving the lava fields he just how unprepared tourists can be. In a survey youcut alsoshowed toshreds.”Butthestudy saw were hiking-related,” he says. “Silica will just lava inHawaii. hikers “A injurieswe lotofthe sive study of the health and safety issues facing risk factor in itself. about safety risks, Heggie says, but also a serious guides must overcome in order to educate tourists that is not only a barrier that park rangers and tour This leads to a lackadaisical attitude about safety who want to relax and enjoy the beautiful scenery. waves are not on the minds of most vacationers rocks, killergasclouds andscaldinghotocean people stillareinjuredandsomediethere.”Flying vision of park rangers or trained tour guides. Yet from close-up,”shesays,“preferablyundersuper oozing outincertainareasandthiscanbewatched “Hawaiian eruptions, for example, have lava gently safe inanunsafeenvironment,”Erfurt-Coopersays. tourists with enough information on “how to stay eruption, and the National Park Service provides the safest for two reasons: it is an effusive-type tude sickness — occur on dormant volcanoes. threatening conditions like hypothermia and alti mild cuts and abrasions to broken bones to life- dents and injuries sustained on volcanoes — from hiking and mountain climbing, many of the acci- mountain destinations and activities like skiing, volcano tourism usually involves travel to remote rienced tourists,” Erfurt-Cooper says. Because cano varies widely based on a number of factors, a-lifetime experience for most people,” says Tobias — Tobias Schorr, tour guidewith Volcano Discovery In 2004, Heggie published the first comprehen- At active volcanoes, the risks are compounded. The level of risk posed by any individual vol “To view an active volcano erupting is a once-in- Among active volcanoes, Kilauea isprobably “Any mountaincanposeadangertoinexpe- To volcano anactive eruptingisa view once-in-a-lifetime experience for experience most once-in-a-lifetime people. www.earthmagazine.org

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Bottom to top: Ragnar Schierholz, Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic; janez0rz TKTK; Tom Pfeiffer/www.volcanodiscovery.com Bottom: Jessica Ball; top: Megan Sever during oneof thepark’s rareclosuresand the breaking both of her legs. That incident happened crust and fell nine meters to the floor of the tube walking over a lava tube broke through the thin below — collapsed. which looked solid from above but was unstable at Kilauea’s Eruption Site when a lava bench — benches or tubes. In April 1993, two tourists died out ontothesurfaceofthin,unsupportedlava injuries —for example, when tourists venture Green State University in Bowling Green, Ohio. Management, Recreation&Tourism atBowling time,” saysHeggie,whoisnowaprofessorofSport of seeing creation and destruction atthe same close to it as they can. “I think it’s the fascination Celsius. Yet tourists are often intent on getting as is exposure to lava, which can reach 2,000 degrees eruptions, toxic gas emissions or scalding water. volcanic and geothermal risks such as unexpected would hike a basic even be moreill-equippedtoface from theEruptionSitewherelava enterstheocean. hiking beyond thewarning signsposted500meters were intoxicated. In addition, 93 percent admitted shoes or highheels. Five percent admitted they and sunscreen. Seven percent were wearing dress lacking flashlights, sufficient water, first aid kits lava fields. Most of the hikers were ill-prepared, the rigors of an up-to-10-kilometer hike across the more than half were novice hikers, unprepared for emanating from lava vents. Healso found that be exacerbated bygaseous fumes and particulates including heart problems and asthma, which can Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. Warning sign outsidethevisitor’s center at www.earthmagazine.org Heggie recalls one incident in which a woman The most apparent hazard at an active volcano The coolerproductsoflava alsocausemany TouristsThe concernsareobvious. for unprepared National Park. Sign ononeoftheroads insideHawaii Volcanoes the warning signsthe warning posted 500meters from theEruption Site intoxicated. beyond addition,93percent admitted In hiking dress shoesorhighheels. Five percent admitted were they LIFE MAY DEPENDONIT.” mid- In “PLEASE READCAREFULLY — YOUR flier, incapital letters, iswritten: threatening. Across thetop ofthe volcano andlife isunpredictable its approachable lava flows, the for isknown although Kilauea Not Enough,” warnstourists that CommonLava is Sense Safely: have beeninjured. the past10years anddozens more have in diedat the coastal entry Still, ahalfdozen nearly people where the lava flow meets the sea. to cross thelava flows to thebench information to visitors whoattempt A Common Sense IsNotEnough newly named West Ka’ili’ili ocean National Park boundaries, at the the ocean withinHawaii Volcanoes Pu’u ’Ō’ō vent once againreached December 2011,lava from Kilauea’s The titled fact-sheet, “Viewing Seven percent [of lava hikers at Kilauea] were percentSeven atKilauea] [of wearing lava hikers Service provides safetyService Park, the National Park t Hawaii Volcanoes National where lava enters theocean. lava fragments andaciddroplets lava entering theseacontain fine ards. Steam plumesproduced by slick pahoehoelava andotherhaz- and crevices, terrain sharp andrain- advisories, andbeaware ofcracks to heedallwarningsigns andranger can changeat any time. need Hikers across theflow field, butconditions of lava flowing down thepaliand canalsoseechannels stay dark after viding dramatic views. Visitors who are into pouring theocean, pro them to stay away. and, at the same time, warning visit thevolcanic natural wonders bothinviting touriststhe park: to reveals thedichotomous role of entry. Arelease dated Dec. 14 large localwaves. hot rock fallsinland, andgenerate collapse withlittlewarning, produce that can be harmful. Lava deltas can Currently, several streams oflava EARTH

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EARTH 2012 April Ritsumeikan Asia-PacificRitsumeikan University peninsula about 50kilometerssoutheastof Athens. by gasatthePausanias bathsinMethana, avolcanic in Italy and inGreece, wheretwo peoplewere killed Therehavefumaroles,” Schorrsays. casualties been a lava bench collapses or a skylight opens. pockets or lava tubes, and emitted suddenly when before. Gases can also be trapped in underground areas thatmayhave hadbreathableairjustmoments large volumes can be emitted and carried bywinds to Volcanic gases are hot, toxic and undetectable, and are the unseen perils of the volcanic atmosphere. he says. can’t go out there, they go out and do it anyway,” her into the park. “Even when we tell people they a backcountry trail with a local she had paid to get woman entered the park illegally, Heggie says, via guides were killed in 2006 as they were fencing off — Patricia Erfurt-Cooper, At Mammoth Ski Area in California, three ski “An oftenforgottendangeris volcanic gasin In additiontothehazardsofvolcanic landscape asking for trouble.asking Above andabove left: Tourists at Kilauea. more than 100,000 parts per million (ppm) with a the level inside the fumarole was department a few hours after the accident showed three were asphyxiated. Readings taken bythe fire second andthirdvictimsattemptedtosave him. All he guides, “only Hawaii in the U.S. is strict about their own safety. no tortculture,touristsarelargely responsiblefor says that in countries like Iceland where there is Officer for the National Park Service until 2007, Risk ManagementSpecialist andTort Claims catered dinners. Heggie, who was also the Public to see theshow, enjoying helicopter tours and main volcano blew in April 2010, tourists flocked started eruptinginIcelandamonthbeforethe and each country handles tourism safety differently. No internationalorganizationtrackssuchincidents volcano geotourism worldwide arehardtocomeby. the World Volcano Geotourismaround carbon monoxideconcentrationabove 40,000ppm. and fell seven meters into the fumarole, and the ing into it. The first victim broke through the snow deep snowfall, in order to prevent skiers from fall a known fumarole, which had been covered bya Washington onAug. 7,1980. Watching theeruptionofMountSt. Helensin Schorr says that of all the countries in which When avent afewkilometers fromEyjafjallajokull Accurate statistics on fatalities and injuries due to www.earthmagazine.org

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Bottom two: Travis Heggie; top: R. Forrest Hopson Bottom to top: Lauren Schaefer; Patricia Erfurt-Cooper; Patricia Erfurt-Cooper; Helene Eide canoes each year. Between 2007 and 2011, 29 tour ied theeruption ofFuego Volcano inGuatemala. Michigan Tech graduates students recently stud- erupted since1999,thevolcano hasrecently become Negro over the last five years. Although it hasn’t least 72 tourists have died on the slopes of Cerro crater rim and even heart failure. In Nicaragua, at exposure to volcanic gases but also falls from the ists diedon Arenal inCostaRica,mainlyfrom largely unregulated or monitored for safety. tourist dollars, Heggie notes, and tour guides are or incidentsforfearofdiminishingtheflow to establish guidelines or to publicize safety issues nations, however, manygovernments arereluctant elsewhere,” Erfurt-Cooper says. In developing ing safetyinformationforinternationaltourists problems due to the toxic fumes from the crater. has claimed a few victims who suffered respiratory volcanoes, Erfurt-Coopersays.Buteven Mount Aso covers themajority ofpeoplevisitingJapanese (English, Korean, Chinese and Japanese), which Mount Aso is usually provided in four languages at active volcanoes suchas Mount Unzenand anything that wasn’t safe,’” he says. national park; our government wouldn’t let us do guidelines. “The attitude in the U.S. is: ‘This is a safe, which leads many tourists to flaunt the safety assumption that the national parks are inherently lines in the U.S. to both atort culture and the flawed their own, which is asking for trouble.” attempt to explore active volcanic environments on adds, “many people don’t listen to advice and will guages to get the message across.” However, she agrees, “although not necessarily in enough lan the best safety strategies for visitors, Erfurt-Cooper guidelines.” The U.S. national parksgenerallyhave declared in2009. Geopark aGlobal on theislandofKyushu, ; Unzen was Tourists at thesummitofMountUnzen looking www.earthmagazine.org In Central America, dozens of people die on vol “There is a lot of room for improvement regard In Japan, warning signs and safety information Heggie credits the more extensive safety guide - - - - - Eruption ofEyjafjallajokull inIceland inApril 2010. the crater viewing area at MountAso. Warning sign in four languages at the entrance to EARTH

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EARTH 2012 April park boundaries,park are stilloperation. However, tours from lower elevations, outsideof the the banoncommercial biketours within the park. .water ontheArkansas rafting single exception rate was ahigherfatality for white those for commercial tours onHaleakala. bicycle The ratesfound forwere theinjury allactivities lower than riding, andwhitewater horsebackriding and rafting at othernational parks,activities includingmule bike tours ofcommercial to avariety recreational ing asafety review. indefinitely ofthepark pend- within theboundaries 2007, theNational suspendedtours Park Service guide wrecked, October injuries. sustainingserious In crash of a tourist, and one in which an experienced accidents in the same period, including the near-fatal thatpark year. There were alsothree otherserious company. was thesecond biketour inthe It fatality the oncoming van ofanothercommercial biketour by lineandwas struckandkilled the double-yellow the downhill runfrom lot, crossed thecrater parking a 65-year-old woman lostcontrol on ofherbicycle road and crashed into rocks. Then in September 2007, whenshewentwoman was offthesideof killed commercial biketours. March 2007,a44-year-old In yellow line, noshoulder, andtraffic. paved, steeply road graded withadouble- two-lane (only athird ofthedistance ona insidethepark) coasted downmit. thevolcano Riders 50kilometers straddle unfamiliarbikesandpushofffrom thesum- at often sunrise. Bikerswould then don helmets, dormant volcano, at anelevation of3,050meters, day. Participants were driven to thesummitof mercial biketour companies, whichran 40tours per 100,000 peoplesigned upwithoneofthefive com- National Parkin Haleakala inHawaii. Eachyear, about F Cruisin’ foraBruisin’ The National decidedto Park continue Service A March 2008safety review compared theHaleakala 1998, a fatalityIn prompted a safety review of tours were oneofthemostpopularactivities when theywere banned, commercial bike until 2007rom 1986whentheyfirststarted SEP - a popular destination for sandboarding — riding a —riding forsandboarding a populardestination Cerro Negro inNicaragua. on Sandboarding isapopulartourist activity allowed insidethepark. down Maui’sBiking isnolonger Haleakala Nyiragonga intheDemocratic ofCongo. Republic aphoto ontherimof deathMount whiletaking 2007,atouristIn from HongKong fell to her local environments and language barriers. ing them include the wide range of volcano types, lines forvolcano tourists.Challengestoimplement- Industry Safety GuidelinesforaGrowing was featured in EARTH’s February issue.) Nyiragongo, which was not erupting at the time, (A travel feature on a trek to the summit of Mount , which last erupted in 2002. containing two active volcanoes: Nyamulagira and the north flank. Virunga is a World Heritage Site 300-meter-tall lava fountains and glowingflows on invited touriststogoonovernight trekstosee began erupting, officials at Nyamulagira intheDemocratic RepublicofCongo ters per hour down the steep, coarse-sand slopes. seated toboggan-style, atspeeds close to 90kilome- wooden board, either standing surfboard-style or There currently areno internationalsafety guide- In lastNovember, whenMount www.earthmagazine.org

Bottom to top: Kathrina Szymborski; BikeHikeTravelCK; ©iStockphoto.com/iShootPhotos, LLC Bottom: Jessica Ball; top two: Tom Pfeiffer/www.volcanodiscovery.com at JessicaBall Kilauea. dons gasmasks. wrong way inthewind, thetour group Vanuatu; iffumesare blowing the on thecrater volcano in ofAmbrym Tour group led by Volcano Discovery www.earthmagazine.org hundreds of tourists.” “We can handle a group up to 20 persons, but not at volcanoes anywhereontheplanet,”Schorrsays. seeing stops. “Mass tourism is the biggest danger volcanic destinations that are treated as mere sight- bus tours that disgorge hundreds of tourists at guides familiarwithvolcanology give way tolarge as small, educationaltoursled byexperienced volcano geotourism may prove dangerous to itself, safety concernsandpracticesriskmanagement. thesession,whichaddressed Cooper moderated conference held in Tenerife, Spain, in 2010. Erfurt- convened atthe6thInternational Cities on Volcanoes the first time, a session on Volcano Tourism was Schorr warns that the burgeoning popularity of But some people are working to change that. For deposits from hotfumaroles, Vulcano Island, Italy. ter ofLaFossa volcano, whichisdotted withyellow sulfur Volcano Discovery tour group on the rim of Vulcano’s cra- Pratt isanassociate editor at EARTH. biggest danger.” Schorr says. “The volcanoes themselves are not the like in Africa orIndonesia;traffic anddiseases,” Ethiopia, CongoorGuatemala; unsafeairports, hazards of adventure travel. What worries Schorr are the other less predictable — so for the most part, tourists can be kept away. risk ofaneruptioncanbeassessedbygeoscientists not have any prior warning,” Erfurt-Cooper says. lently aredangerous,especiallywheretouristsmay in the Cascades. “All volcanoes that can erupt vio Montserrat, and Mount Rainier and Mount Shasta Mount MerapiinIndonesia,SoufrièreHills lava domes and erupt catastrophically, such as especially when visiting volcanoes that can form in cooperation with local scientists.” conducting “a strict study of local seismic stations safety precautiontheguidesemploy, hesays,isfirst gas masks and helmets, but the most important uses safety equipment, including good footwear, nonguided tours,”hesays.Volcano Discovery Schorr says. “The most casualties take place in volcano andwhorespectthepossibledangers, who have previous experience with a particular noes, they need to choose knowledgeable guides “The highest risks are terrorist attacks, like in However, volcanoes can be monitored and the Second, people need to be aware of the hazards, If people are going to go out exploring volca The volcanoes themselves are notthebiggestdanger. — Tobias Schorr, tour guidewith Volcano Discovery EARTH - -

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