Summary Of In The Path Of A Killer Volcano

After watching the NOVA film, In The Path of a Killer Volcano, we are able to learn a lot about volcanos and what is the result that comes from a volcano that has erupted. This film focuses specifically on Mt. Pinatubo in the Philippines. It walks us through the events leading up to the eruption, what happened during the actual event, and what the effects were and because we have all of this information know we are able to respond the best way possible. Scientists were watching Mt. Pinatubo very closely. They noticed a few things that lead them to think that this mountain was going to blow up. They first started recording a lot of small earthquakes under the volcanos. These slowly started to get bigger and bigger as it got closer the the actual eruption. The second thing they noticed was the shape and size of the mountain was changing. You could see a physical difference on the side of the mountain. This was evidence that there was some kind of pressure and activity going on inside. They could also tell that it was going explode horizontally instead of vertically because of the way it was bulging. The third thing they noticed about the
The small towns around Mt. Pinatubo were very poor. The little money they had could not be used for a “possible” eruption. They have an alert system that helps the town know if they should evacuate or not. They called a level 3 and once they flew over the volcano and released it would erupt soon they called a level 4. That meant that everyone had to move within twelve miles of the mountain. 14,000 people left their homes and only 1,500 security people were left behind. There was a military base that stayed put for a while and then once the general talked with scientists they made the decision to evacuate even though it was very expensive. The evacuation costed a lot money, but saved many