The dark side of volcanoes

I admit to an ongoing fascination with volcanoes.  They are powerful, beautiful, largely uncontrollable, and visible demonstrations of the power of nature and geological forces.

Unfortunately, under the wrong circumstances, they can  be deadly.  And that was the case this weekend when Japan's Mount Ontake, a popular hiking mountain that had been inactive for a couple of decades, awoke and erupted without warning.  According to the news reports, 30 hikers were killed and many more were trapped, as rescue operations are ongoing.

From Pompeii (Vesuvius) to St. Pierre (Mont Pelee) to the island of Java (Krakatoa) to Goma (Nyiragongo) to Montserrat (Soufriere Hills) to Armero (Nevada de la Huascaran), volcanic eruptions have killed thousands of people.  The sudden Japanese eruption was a reminder of both the terrible power of nature and its ability to surprise us, despite our best efforts to understand and predict them.


Many pictures of the event in this Daily Mail article:

More than 30 hikers dead after Japanese volcano erupts without warning