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People living near the fertile soil + water flood caused Kelut, Java/Indonesia
Location: Subduction Zone, island arc; stratovolcano
Kelut is a volcano Indonesia in the tropical climate belt. After an eruption, new pyroclastic material decomposes quickly to form fertile soil. This attracts many people to live near the volcano despite the threat of imminent eruptions. A large summit crater lake (water, not lava) often empties out during eruptions (15 times in the last 200 years). A debris flow formed during an eruption in 1586 killed 10,000 people making this eruption the 7th deadliest within the last 500 years.
- 1919: a surprise eruption forces 40 Mio m3 of lake water down the slopes of loose pyroclastic material forming 3 major lahars travelling at 65km/h (40mph)
- more than 5,000 people are killed
- in the aftermath and to prevent future such disasters, Dutch engineers dig tunnels to reduce the lake size by 95%; however a later eruption in 1966 dumps 20 Mio m3 water killing 282 people. A new deeper tunnel proves effective for hazard reduction during an equally violent eruption (VEI=4) in 1990 in which none or very few people perish.
Comments
These notes are aimed at students studying for Edexcel (B) Unit 5 - Hazards, though will be suitable also for people studying with different exam boards and at different levels.
They were originally submitted by wackojacko in this thread on TSR Forums.
