Eruption!: Volcanoes and the Science of Saving Lives by Elizabeth Rusch (review)

This Scientists in the Field entry focuses on the work of the Volcano Disaster Assistance Program (VDAP), a cadre of scientists within the U.S. Geological Survey that trains international vulcanologists and seismologists in monitoring techniques, and joins them (by invitation only) with assistance and advice during a crisis. Rusch's admirably organized title begins with the tragic story of the pre-VDAP eruption of Nevado del Ruiz in Colombia in 1985, in which some 23,000 lives were lost. Drawing on their experience with the eruption of Mount St. Helens, a team of American scientists determines to make an organized effort to share what they've learned about how to install monitoring apparatus in remote and potentially lethal locations. As scientists from other nations arrive and share their own experiences, the total knowledge base broadens, making it clear this is truly an international effort. This title's culminating event, which Rusch and Uhlman witnessed and documented in 2010, is the eruption of Mount Merapi in Indonesia. VDAP-trained Indonesian scientists ran this show, with some remote back-up from VDAP (already committed at other hotspots) and with coordinated satellite data from the international community. Timely evacuations saved most, if not all, lives, and in the aftermath of the explosion VDAP returned to Mount Merapi to learn from their Indonesian colleagues unique features of this eruption. Rusch treats with particular respect the decisions of those who chose not to evacuate, and the reasons why people make their livelihoods alongside a volcano that continually threatens their lives. Images of destruction may initially draw the casual browser, but far more impressive is the balance of vivid photographs that bring the international scientists into the limelight. A glossary, chapter notes, bibliography, and index are included.