Pago poised to blow its top

摘要

A volcano in Papua New Guinea is threatening to erupt and put thousands of lives at risk. Pago volcano has been slowly pumping out lava and intermittently spewing rocks and ash for more than two months, and 15,000 people have been evacuated. But scientists fear the worst may be yet to come. "This activity could lead to something larger," says Dan Miller, chief of the US Geological Survey's Volcano Disaster Assistance Program, which has sent an emergency team to monitor the situation. Pago has erupted at least eight times in the past 500 years, most recently in 1933. That eruption forced many people from their homes, and sparked a famine. But Pago is merely the active vent of Witori crater or "caldera", a much larger, more dangerous type of volcano with the potential for enormous eruptions. A large explosion could send massive flows of hot ash and debris up to 30 kilometres away, endangering up to 30,000 people, and would temporarily change the Earth's climate.