Volcanic Funding

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Funding Volcanic Research

While volcanoes and earthquakes can’t be prevented, measures can be taken to at least predict when the volcanoes will erupt and prepare for them. However, monitoring these natural disasters requires adequate of funding. There have been plenty of times where such monitoring has paid off, and others where it hasn’t. It begs the question, does funding pay off in the end? Definitely yes, because the cost can’t be measured in dollars, but instead in human lives, which matters much more in the end.

Firstly, the process of monitoring a volcano and predicting when it will erupt has many variables. Seismographs are often used to detect small earthquakes, which precede eruptions, due to the rising magma. Tiltmeters measure …show more content…
One important measure taken is being ready to evacuate any citizens that will be in danger. Once warned of an imminent volcanic eruption, citizens should ready themselves to evacuate quickly. Other steps taken by the people or the city include creating an exclusion zone around the volcano, keeping an emergency supply of food, and, of course, having funds in place to handle the emergency. On top of paying for these precautions, citizens pay taxes for the initial monitoring of the volcano. Overall, all of these efforts prove worthwhile to save peoples’ …show more content…
It is in fact worthwhile because this monitoring could dial down the consequences of another volcanic eruption, such as the eruption of Mount Tambora in 1815. Following this eruption, the period of time referred to as “The Year Without a Summer” caused ashfall that blocked out the sun in the summer months in Indonesia and resulted in a volcanic winter. This eruption also resulted in the loss of tens of thousands, possibly hundreds of thousands of lives, pyroclastic flow, the spread of cholera, and a snow day in June. This whole ordeal lasted approximately six months.

Monitoring volcanoes is expensive, and even potentially dangerous, but the payoff is greater in the end. Although people might be upset they have to pay taxes for volcanic research, the cost can’t realistically be measured in dollars. Cost can only be measured in humans lives. No one would want another global disaster such as the eruption of Mount Tambora to occur. Adequate funding is needed in order to prevent the unnecessary loss of human
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