Nevado Del Ruiz Volcano Analysis

Imagine you are getting ready for bed, about to lay down and enjoy a good night’s rest when all of the sudden there is a loud scream that comes from the mountains. This was reality for the people of Armero, Colombia (Bressan, 2011). On November 13, 1985 the Nevado Del Ruiz volcano claimed the small city as its victim. The earth began to shake and water and debris covered the sky (Bressan, 2011). People raced to the streets to find out what was happening only to step into layer and layers of mud and volcanic material (Bressan, 2011). The volcano won that night, claiming nearly 25,000 people in the explosion (Bressan, 2011).

Nevado Del Ruiz

Nevado Del Ruiz volcano is located in the Andes Mountains, it is the northernmost and highest Colombian

The devastation caused by Nevado Del Ruiz was unimaginable and horrific. However, even the rescue relief made available and the government’s lack of support made the aftermath much worse for Armero. A few things that made everything much worse were: Accessing the number of survivors- because of the mudflow many people were spread throughout the town, and many were still under the mud not yet discovered (National Academy of Sciences, 2015). Along with counting the number of survivors, identifying the dead also became a serious problem, because of the lack of documents and some people were still entombed in the mud (National Academy of Sciences, 2015). Clean water became another hindrance in helping this town recover, there was a short supply for drinking but most of the town required large amount to wash off the mud from survivors and the injured (National Academy of Science, 2015). Nonetheless, within 2 weeks reconstruction of the town was in full force. Many of roads had been rerouted and carved out once more, bridges were made to make it easier to bring in potable water for the people who survived (National Academy of Science, 2015). Many relief organizations helped to provide facilities for people to take refuge and seek medical help, which is crucial during a disaster of this magnitude. There were several long term impacts caused by Nevado Del Ruiz some being: loss of 50 schools facilities along with teachers and staff, 2 hospitals, 4,000 houses, and 6,000

Despite all the efforts being put into restoring this village, there was still one major problem the government of Colombia had this volcano was still and is still very active. Since the 1985 eruption of Nevado Del Ruiz there has continued to be active since that devastating explosion. Recent activity can be dated as recent as July 13 of this year! (VolcanoDiscovery, 2015) According to scientists, the current magmatic system of Nevado del Ruiz is controlled by 3 magma chambers: one with basaltic magma at approx. 10 km depth, a second one with cooler and more silica-rich magma at 5 km and a near-surface one at 2 km depth with an intermediate magma (VolcanoDiscovery,