An alarming barrage of volcanic eruptions and earthquakes along the Pacific ‘Ring of Fire’ this past month has prompted the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction to issue a warning of its activity in a tweet. The recent eruptions of Mount Mayon in the Philippines, Mount Kusatsu-Shirane, which also triggered an avalanche, in Japan, multiple eruptions in Indonesia and a 7.9 earthquake in Alaska, which led to tsunami warnings being issued along the coast of Alaska and Canada, have sent everyone living around the Ring of Fire on high alert, as well as prompted several mass evacuations in areas where disasters could potentially occur.
Pacific Ring of Fire active today. #switch2sendai #earthquake #volcano
– PH : Mayon Volcano erupted, 1,000s evacuees
– Japan: Volcano causes avalanche, one death
– Indonesia: 5.3 earthquake jolts Jakarta, buildings swayed
– Alaska: 7.9 Magnitude earthquake led to tsunami alert. pic.twitter.com/q1rz0Dbvxr— UNDRR (@UNDRR) January 23, 2018
What is the Ring of Fire?
The Pacific ‘Ring of Fire’ or the ‘Circum-Pacific belt’ is notorious for the staggering levels of seismic activity that have historically occurred there. According to a U.S. Geological Survey, 90% of earthquakes on the planet occur around this region. Historically, many countries situated around the Ring of Fire, which spans around 40,000 km, have had to grapple with the often devastating effects of its seismic activity. One of the most famous examples in history would be the 1883 eruption of Mount Krakatau in Indonesia, with its ash causing global temperatures to drop by about 1.2 degrees Celsius. More recent examples include the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami in Japan that led to the meltdown of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, as well as the 1991 eruption of Mount Pinatubo in The Philippines, both of which have caused massive destruction and displacement for people living around where the disasters hit.
Recent activity ‘normal’ for Ring of Fire
However, as scientists have pointed out that, despite the pattern towards massive disaster that is being suggested by the frequency of these eruptions and quakes in such a short space of time (Kusatsu-Shirane and Mayon erupted merely days from each other) such activity is ‘normal’ for the Ring of Fire and should not necessarily be taken as a portent of a potential bigger earthquake or disaster, according to a BBC report. In the report, Professor Chris Elders of Curtin University states that “It just so happens that these events are occurring at the same time in different parts of the region. There’s not necessarily a relationship between them.”
Another scientist, volcanologist Janine Krippner, has highlighted how such feisty activity is ‘normal’ for the Ring of Fire:
It's not referred to as the "ring of fire" because it sits there doing nothing. It is a constantly-moving, very active (and huge) area full of faults and active volcanoes. It is normal to have so much activity. https://t.co/GjY5wFBWZF
— Dr Janine Krippner (@janinekrippner) January 24, 2018
Perhaps because of the increased use of social media, it’s now easier than ever for everyone around the world to be more updated on and made more aware of, the activity around the Ring of Fire, thus heightening the perceptions of danger and threat more than ever before.
The difficulty of predicting disasters
Still, seismic activity and the severity of such activity are notoriously difficult, if not impossible, to predict. According to Professor Toshitsugu Fujii, a volcanologist at The University of Tokyo, Mount Kisatsu-Shirane has been dormant for over 3,000 years and has shown no prior warning signs of potential eruption; thus, he warns that another eruption may occur. Scientists from the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (PHIVOLCS) have also voiced similar concerns.
Such worrying patterns have led to some speculating that a ‘Big One‘ could hit any time soon. There could potentially be a massive earthquake along the Ring of Fire which could cause enormous destruction and death. As such, scientists around the world are hard-pressed to find ways to predict earthquakes using historical and statistical data. There have been many studies, tools and approaches made by scientists in an attempt to figure out which precursors would eventually lead to high seismic activity, such as the development of seismic sensors and observance of certain phenomena which are correlated with seismic activities such as changes in electromagnetic activity, foreshocks and changes in the behavior of animals. Unfortunately, not all factors have strong enough statistic relationships with seismic activity, as they also occur even when there isn’t anything going on.
Video via @YES777777777.https://t.co/WRb9hpjp2z
— Nippon.com (@nippon_en) January 23, 2018
Disaster-preparedness still a priority, as it should be
Nevertheless, whether or not the recent activity may necessarily mean that the ‘Big One’ might come any time soon, the importance of preparing for disasters should still be embraced by governments around the world, especially those countries along the Ring of Fire. Though it is normal for the Ring of Fire to be active, that does not mean that the seismic activity there isn’t a cause of concern—there certainly should still be effective processes in place for people to be prepared and for as many people as possible to be saved, in the event of a disaster.
The United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction has recently been advocating for the international implementation of the Sendai Framework, which emphasizes the ‘responsibility’ of the governments of UN Member States, as well as ‘local government, the private sector and other stakeholders’ should take in preparation for and in response to disasters. It was implemented in 2015 in a UN conference in Japan. Given the unpredictability of natural disasters, it’s imperative for countries to have contingencies in place in dealing with them, unexpected or not.
