The decade of the 1980's was a period of frequent destructive volcanic eruptions. Indeed, the 1980's registered more eruption-related deaths than in any ten-year period since 1902. This destructive trend has continued through the first several years of the 1990's. As rapidly growing populations in developing countries encroach on areas of high volcano hazard, there is every reason to expect that the potential for volcano-related casualties will increase. VDAP has the capability to mitigate volcano hazards through technology transfer, training, and rapid response to volcano unrest. In the following pages we describe the current status of VDAP, our operating strategies, and the framework within which we propose to operate in the next five years.
In order to maintain an international volcano-hazards-mitigation capability over the next five years, we believe that VDAP should continue to support the core Volcano Crisis Assistance Team (VCAT) in Vancouver, Washington and the institutions and observatories that VDAP has helped to develop in Latin America and the Philippines. We also propose a five-year plan that places additional emphasis on Guatemala, El Salvador, and Nicaragua to assist those countries to become more self-sufficient in mitigating volcano hazards within their borders. This emphasis is designed to provide technical training and assistance in volcano-hazards assessment, volcano monitoring, and hazards mitigation through workshops held in Costa Rica as well as through specific in-country assistance by USGS personnel.
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