Decade Volcanoes

For example, Mexican scientific and civil defence bodies funded work at Colima, principally for Mexican scientists but also for a few foreign colleagues; major bilateral French-Indonesian and German-Indonesian programs were initiated at Merapi; and the European Union has provided funding for many of the studies carried out at European volcanoes.

One particular activity that has not been funded—because it typically is not allowable under most national or bilateral funding—is the exchange of scientists and civil defence leaders between the various Decade Volcano projects of developing countries, for example, between the Philippines and Indonesia, or between Mexico, Guatemala, and Colombia, or across the Pacific and Atlantic.

[1] Since it was initiated, the Decade Volcano program has achieved a number of successes in predicting volcanic events and mitigating disasters.

Eruptions at Japan's Mount Unzen which began shortly before it was designated a Decade Volcano were heavily monitored, but despite this, a large pyroclastic flow killed 43 people, including three volcanologists.

[3] Later, a 1993 Decade Volcano conference in the city of Pasto, Colombia ended in disaster when several attending scientists mounted an impromptu expedition to the crater of Galeras.