A volcano in the state of Hawaii in the United States has caught everyone's eye. Hot red lava flowing like a river and black ash clouds in the sky - many people may have seen this scene of Kilauea volcano on the television screen. But how dangerous is such an eruption?
Scientists say about 70 volcanoes erupt each year. Some of them surprise us and the rest are regular events.
Kilauea is one of the most active volcanoes in the world. The eruption began about 35 years ago. However, in the last few weeks, the level of this eruption has increased drastically.
The lava of the volcano flows like a river and literally enters the back garden of the house, the front yard. However, the good news is that no casualties have been reported so far.
From this it may seem that volcanoes are not so dangerous. But not really.
According to scientists, 260,000 people have died in volcanic eruptions since 1500, of which 160,000 have been killed in just six eruptions.
These figures have been compiled based on news reports, government data and historical documents.
About 2,000 people have died since 2000.
Most of these deaths occurred in the Philippines, Indonesia, Japan and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Last year, three tourists were killed when a volcano erupted in Italy.
As many as 600 million people live within 100 kilometers of the world's active volcanoes.
Scientists say the volcanic eruption could go as far as 100 kilometers. In this area alone, 200 million people live in Indonesia.
The number of active volcanoes in the world is one and a half thousand. These volcanoes are spread in 61 countries.
'Active' does not mean that these volcanoes are now erupting. Scientists say that these are considered to be active considering the recent eruptions and the possibility of eruptions in the future.
These volcanoes can pose a variety of risks to those who live in the vicinity of the volcano.
The U.S. Geological Survey on Kilauea says volcanic eruptions have increased dramatically since last April.
Since then its red heated lava has moved five kilometers away. Destroyed houses on the way. Thousands of people have been evacuated. No major casualties have been reported so far.
On the way, Lava burns and melts everything he finds in front of him. The heated lava has a temperature of 1200 degrees Celsius.
This lava moves so slowly that people can easily walk past it.
Danger if people can't move very fast. Several people were airlifted to Hawaii by helicopter. Because there was no safe way for them to escape.
Lovers can also cause explosions. Fire can break out in places where methane gas has accumulated.
Hydraulic acid, sulfur dioxide is made by mixing with water. However, only 2 percent of the deaths were caused by lava and gas.
The highest death toll from volcanic gas was in Cameroon in 1986. At that time, about one and a half thousand people lost their lives due to the carbon dioxide emitted from Lake Noise volcano.
The Roman city of Pompeii was destroyed in 69 AD by a pyroclastic flow from a volcano. More than 30,000 people were killed in 1902 on a Caribbean island in the same stream.
Volcanic ash can travel thousands of kilometers. This may disrupt air traffic.
