Volcano Disaster Assistance Program

The Volcano Disaster Assistance Program was developed by the U.S. Geological Survey and U.S. Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance after the eruption of Nevado del Ruiz in 1985 that killed 23,000 people. The program responds to selected volcanic crises around the world, to assist in saving lives and property and to reduce economic losses.

When Mount Pinatubo erupted in 1991, the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology and U.S. Geological Survey had monitored the volcano. With the help of the Volcano Disaster Assistance Program's crisis-response team, about 75,000 people and US$250 million to $375 million worth of equipment were evacuated before the major eruption.

Famous quotes containing the words volcano, disaster, assistance and/or program:

    We are like travellers using the cinders of a volcano to roast their eggs. Whilst we see that it always stands ready to clothe what we would say, we cannot avoid the question whether the characters are not significant of themselves.
    Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)

    Therefore it was surprising that, as we kept the newspapers from
    Mother,
    She died feeling responsible for a disaster unverified,
    Murmuring, in her sleep as it seemed, the ancient slogan
    Noblesse oblige.
    Josephine Miles (1911–1985)

    Man cannot produce a single work without the assistance of the slow, assiduous, corrosive worm of thought.
    Eugenio Montale (1896–1981)

    The candidate tells us we are the “backbone of the State,” and we know that it is true, not because we are possessed of certain endowed virtues, but because we are a majority and have the vote.
    —Federal Writers’ Project Of The Wor, U.S. public relief program (1935-1943)