More economically Developed country (medc)- America, Mt. St. Helens
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Mount St. Helens erupted on May 18, 1980. The volcano, located in southwestern Washington, used to be a symmetrical cone about 9,600 feet (3,000 meters) above sea level. The eruption, which removed the upper 1,300 feet (396 meters) of the summit, left a horseshoe-shaped crater, surrounded by barren wasteland. The 5.1 magnitude earthquake, caused by the Cascadia subduction zone, where the Nazca plate is subducting under the North American plate. This earthquake caused a landslide (the biggest in recorded history) which then lead to the lateral eruption of the north face of the mountain. Shortly after the lateral blast, a second, vertical explosion occurred at the summit of the volcano, sending a mushroom cloud of ash and gases into the air. The cloud of ash darkened the skies, causing streetlights to come on as far away as Spokane, Washington. Ash continued to erupt for more than nine hours. Ultimately, an estimated 540 million tons (490,000 kilotons) of ash drifted up to 2,200 square miles (5,700 square km) settling over seven states.
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS OF THE ERUPTION
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The eruptions on May 18th, 1980 caused much damage to the environment. though volcanic ash fell as far away as 1,500 km, the lateral eruption especially caused environmental damage: it wiped out miles or forest and greenery, reduced the height of the mountain by over 1,300 feet and buried the Toutle valley to a depth of nearly 50 meters. Also while over 650 square kilometers of land was damaged, it is estimated that over 7,000 big game animals were killed along with millions of birds, fish and smaller mammals.
Social impacts
The eruption killed 57, destroyed over 250 homes and caused the government to evacuate over 2000 people. Also several logging camps, stranded thousands of motorists, floodwater washed away many communications towers and so people were unable to contact each other, services in the form of electricity, water and other supplies were cut off or hindered. While the loss of human life was not phenomenal many other people suffered illness due to ash inhalation and contamination from the ash in food and water.
Economic imapcts
While services were hindered effecting communities, the eruption caused runways and highways to shut down. Also 1.1 billion U.S dollars worth of property damage was caused.From 1980-1990, 74 research projects were funded by the National Science Foundation at a total cost of just less than $5 million. The Mount St. Helens Visitors Center at Castle Rock cost $5.5 million to construct. Trails, roads in the park, and interpretive centers cost another $42.3 million. New highway and bridges from the Toutle River to Johnston Ridge cost $145 million. facilities along this road cost another $25 million for the government to build, there was also millions of dollars more spent on the rebuild of civilian property.
Before and after images
LESS economically developed country (ledc)- Philippines, mt. pinatubo
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Mt. Pinatubo lies near a subducting convergent boundary (of t Eurasian and Pacific plates), the resulting earthquakes and pressure have caused the area to become a geothermal hot spot on June 12 (Philippine Independence Day), millions of cubic yards of gas-charged magma reached the surface and exploded in the reawakening volcano's first spectacular eruption.When even more highly gas charged magma reached Pinatubo's surface on June 15, a cataclysmic like eruption ensued. More than 5 cubic kilometers of material was ejected and the ash cloud rose 35 kms into the air. At lower altitudes, the ash was blown in all directions by the intense cyclonic winds of a coincidentally occurring typhoon, and winds at higher altitudes blew the ash southwestward. A blanket of volcanic ash and pumice blanketed the countryside. Fine ash fell as far away as the Indian Ocean, and satellites tracked the ash cloud several times around the globe.
Impacts of the eruption
Huge avalanches of searing hot ash, gas, and pumice fragments (pyroclastic flows) roared down the flanks of Mount Pinatubo, filling valleys with volcanic deposits as much as 200 meters deep. The eruption removed so much magma and rock from below the volcano that the summit collapsed to form a large volcanic caldera) (2.5 kilometers) across. Nearly 20 million tons of sulfur dioxide were injected into the stratosphere in Pinatubo's 1991 eruptions, and dispersal of this gas cloud around the world caused global temperatures to drop temporarily (1991 through 1993) by about 0.5°C. The eruptions have dramatically changed the face of central Luzon, home to about 3 million people, desolating it.
Scientists from the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology and the U.S. Geological Survey had forecast Pinatubo's 1991 climactic eruption, resulting in the saving of at least 5,000 lives and at least $250 million in property. Commercial aircraft were warned about the ash cloud and most avoided it, but a number of jets flying far to the west of the Philippines encountered ash and sustained about $100 million worth of damages.
About 20,000 indigenous Aeta highlanders, who had lived on the volcanoes slopes, were displaced, and most still wait in resettlement camps in hopes of one day returning to their homes. About 200,000 people who evacuated from the lowlands surrounding Pinatubo before and during the eruption have returned home but face continuing threats from lahars that have buried numerous towns and villages. Rice paddies,sugar-cane fields and other agriculture sectors that have not been buried by lahars have recovered; those buried by lahars will be out of use for years to come.
Scientists from the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology and the U.S. Geological Survey had forecast Pinatubo's 1991 climactic eruption, resulting in the saving of at least 5,000 lives and at least $250 million in property. Commercial aircraft were warned about the ash cloud and most avoided it, but a number of jets flying far to the west of the Philippines encountered ash and sustained about $100 million worth of damages.
About 20,000 indigenous Aeta highlanders, who had lived on the volcanoes slopes, were displaced, and most still wait in resettlement camps in hopes of one day returning to their homes. About 200,000 people who evacuated from the lowlands surrounding Pinatubo before and during the eruption have returned home but face continuing threats from lahars that have buried numerous towns and villages. Rice paddies,sugar-cane fields and other agriculture sectors that have not been buried by lahars have recovered; those buried by lahars will be out of use for years to come.
Comparison
The MEDC in this case suffered a lot more damage to social structure due to the advanced technologies and lifestyle. How ever the economic and loss of human life in the LEDC were much worse due to the nature and circumstance of the eruption, also the densely populated nature of the surrounding area played a role in this. The surrounding area of the volcano in the MEDC means that we have to say that the environmental impacts were worse here, although the ash cloud emitted from the volcano in the LEDC had a greater effect globally, there was not as much damage to the environment. All of the social, economic and environmental impacts were handled much better by the MEDC, although there was more cost to repair damages, the MEDC had the funds to repair the damage caused, where as the LEDC did not.