Governments are "severely ill-prepared" for the impact of a massive volcanic eruptionthat could disruptsupply chains.will have lasting effects on the climate and the global food supply, scientists warn.
Lack of preparedness is due to a "widespread misconception" that risks fromvolcanic eruptions are low, experts at Cambridge's Existential Risk Research Center and the University of Birmingham said. .
In an article in the Naturejournal, the team called the government-wide underinvestment in planning, monitoring and responding to potential volcanic hazards "reckless."
Dr. Lalamani, a global risk expert and co-author of this article, said: An explosion of magnitude 7 could occur within the next 100 years. It's rolling the dice.
"Such massive eruptions have caused rapidclimate changeand the collapse of civilizations in the distant past." Underestimated, he said, "long-awaited" steps can be taken to mitigate the devastation impacts of large volcanic eruptions. Enhancements include magma manipulation.
Dr. Mani said the potential risk posed by a giant volcanic eruption could be comparable to a 1 km wide asteroid hitting Earth.
Such an event would have similar climatic effects, as large amounts of debris would be blown into the air, but the team noted that a potential volcanic hazard would be more likely than an asteroid or comet impact.
"Hundreds of millions of dollars are invested in asteroid threats each year, butvolcanicThere is a serious lack of global funding and coordination for HIV," Dr. Mani said.
"This needs to change urgently. We have completely underestimated the risk that thevolcanoposes to our society." } This January's volcanic eruption in Tonga was the largest instrument-recorded volcanic event ever.
If it lasted longer, released more ash and gas, or occurred in areas such as the Mediterranean Sea that were full of critical infrastructure, the research team could have predicted a global shock wave. said it "could have been catastrophic". said Dr. Mani.
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