Box 4. Volcanoes

From the following article:

Natural disasters: The chaos to come

Quirin Schiermeier

Nature 438, 903-906(15 December 2005)

doi:10.1038/438903a

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Past The past two centuries have seen more than a dozen volcano disasters that caused at at least 500 deaths. One such was Mt Pelee's eruption in 1902 (pictured). Affected regions are mostly in the developing world, including Indonesia, Colombia, Mexico, Guatemala, Martinique, Papua New Guinea, Cameroon and Congo.

Natural disastersThe chaos to come POPPERFOTO.COM

Future Were the 1815 eruption of Indonesia's Tambora to happen today, 15,000 people might be killed. Volcanologists are struggling to develop timely warnings for mountains that have lain dormant for many years and could erupt at a moment's notice.

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