Volcanic Islands: A Burning Threat
1 x 52' HDToday, roughly 10% of the world’s population lives near one of the planet’s 1,500 active volcanoes, any one of which could erupt at any given moment. And the number only continues to climb with the challenges of demographic pressures worldwide. France’s Caribbean and Indian Ocean regions are no exception: 70,000 people live at the foot of La Soufrière in Guadeloupe; 780,000 people live on Reunion Island, where volcanic activity makes half of its 2,500 km2 surface area uninhabitable; and the majority of Mayotte’s population lives on an infamously narrow strip of land threatened by a submerged volcano. Observatories in France, and in many countries around the world, monitor volcanic activity around the clock, in an attempt to predict catastrophic eruptions and to move populations out of harm’s way…
In other words, to prevent new tragedies like the 1902 eruption of Mount Pelée in Martinique, one of the deadliest eruptions in recorded history, when a cataclysmic cycle of eruptive activity caused nearly 30,000 victims. Because in France, as elsewhere, there is no such thing as zero volcanic hazard.What would happen to populations if the destructive power of a volcano were unleashed? Several French overseas territories are active volcanic islands. What is the likelihood of their entering a deadly eruptive phase? And what is the risk to the populations nearby? A crucial tour d’horizon of volcanic hazard in France...
- 1 x 52' HD
- RMC Films, RMC Production, RMC Découverte, RMC Story
- Olivier Lacaze
- English, French
- Science & Knowledge