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Risks
Key
towns and places where people live on Fogo:
Got image from GoogleEarth
4/15/08
The arrows point to the
two towns that I think would need to be evacuated during
an eruption. While Cova Figueria is protected from
summit eruptions, it is exposed to the Southeast and
Northeast vents (which are less likely to erupt than the
summit).¹
Within the caldera there are actually two villages
(this map only shows one), that would both need to be
evacuate in the case of an eruption. There used to
be a third village within the caldera that was destroyed by
lava flows in 1995. Fajazinha would also be at risk of
lava flows,¹
and this area to the north of the caldera has been
evacuated in the past.³
Approximately 800 people live within the Cha das
Calderias²
and in the event that any lava flows are produced by
the volcano it would be wise to evacuate all 800 of
these people. All of the towns on this map are at
a high economic risk of ash fall which would wreak havoc on their agricultural
lifestyle. The main threat to this whole island from Fogo is the potential damage to property and loss of
agriculture.¹
In the below map of Fogo you can see where the roads, towns, and airports
are. The main city, Sao Filipe, is a safe distance
away, while the four towns directly within the lava flow
range (see Hazard Map and
Lava Flows pages).
These towns run the risk of being completely obliterated
by any future lava flows. The fact that one of the
airports is located on the north-east side of the island
means that if there were a large, 1995-style, eruption the ash and
even lava flows could shut down the airport. Not
to mention that whatever roads are on the East side of
the caldera would be covered by any lava flows.
View of the island of Fogo from above.²²
Handling the Risk
After seeing the hazard
map, lava flows, and risks of Fogo it seems to me that
ideally the best way to handle the potential risks that
come with living on Fogo is to not allow people to live
on the East side of Fogo that is within the crater.
This, however, is probably not the most practical
approach. Therefore, it is important for the
scientists to keep monitoring Fogo closely and have the
means to evacuate the people living within the lava flow
zones close at hand. Since I have not been able to
find any websites that deal with monitoring Fogo on a
day-to-day basis, I would also recommend to the
government of Cape Verde that they monitor Fogo more
closely and possibly put up a website that explains to
the community the risks and the most up-to-date
information that they can offer about Fogo.
Unfortunately not much can be done to save the farmlands
of the people that grow grapes and coffee on the crater
of Fogo³³
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