Transcript Slide 1

Nevado Del Ruiz is a small town in the
Northern Andeaz, Western Columbia.
On November 14th 1935 there was a big
explosion, the Nevado Del Ruiz volcano
had erupted.
20,000 people were feared
dead and 28,000 people were
devastated.
The Nevado Del Ruiz is 18,000 feet high. This is 12,000
metres.
Columbia is one of the most dangerous countries in the
world today.
Nevado Del Ruiz is the northern most historically active
volcano in south America.
Nevado Del Ruiz rises 5200km above sea level.
When the eruption started 26,000 feet of
smoke shot up into the air. This caused a lot
of pollution.
Together with heavy rainfall it had burst the
banks of river la Languinailla.
Torrents of mud and water went over the
town at 11pm.
People were standing on roof’s of houses
crying with young babies waiting to be
rescued.
2hrs after mud had caused an avalanche.
Rescuers struggled to the scene. It also took
the emergency ambulances 12hrs to get to
the scene, this was because the avalanche
had washed away 6 of the main road
bridges.
By morning a layer of mud, up to 8m thick
covered Armero and the surrounding areas.
This washed away a total amount of 85%
of the town.
The avalanche was that strong that it has
destroyed several other villages as well.
This is a fictional story of what some of the
witnesses might of gone through during this
eruption.
Rosita of Armero
On November 13th 1985, twelve year old Rosita was
awakened by the sound of clattering pottery jars on the dirt
floor. As she sat up on the mat bed that she was sharing
with her sisters, she felt dizzy. The clay pots were not the
only things shaking. Even the floor of Rosita’s adobe was
shaking. Outside a roof tile fell to the ground. Rosita cried
out.
“Hush,” her mama said, “It’s only the volcano shaking.”
Rosita lived Armero, a small town 74km (44.5 miles) from
the base of Nevado Del Ruiz.
Rosita lay back down on her mat bed. The night was silent
now. The clattering had stopped. Still, something did not
seem right. Rosita went outside the adobe hut and looked
toward the volcano. The night was usually dark . There was
a storm brewing in the mountains.
Lightning flashed across the sky. Soon rain began to fall,
forcing Rosita back into her home. As she sat on her mat,
she thought about he volcano. Just yesterday, a white
cloud of steam rose from the mountaintop.
On nights when the sky was clear, she had seen a warm
orange glow. Still the volcano was a long way from
Armero, four hours by car over bumpy roads.
Earlier this year some scientists from the city had come to
Armero. They took measurements and drew maps. Some of
them dug in the ground around the village and looked
closely at the soil.
The scientists told Rosita’s teacher that mud from the
volcano reached Armero 140 years ago.
Rosita had been curious. “How do you get mud from a
volcano?” she asked.
Remembering these things, Rosita was unable to sleep.
She lay quietly in her bed when she heard a strange
swishing sound, and a sound like twigs snapping.
Her curiosity drove her to the door of her hut. The storm
had stopped and the moon was out. Rosita could see the
bright orange glow at the top of the volcano top.
She looked for the source of the swishing. What she saw
made her freeze. A wall of mud filled the trees was rushing
towards the sleeping village.
As Rosita watched in horror, the mud hit the first of the
homes in the village. Rosita screamed, waking the
household. Papa grabbed Rosita's little sister.
“Quick, up the hill,” He shouted. The family scrambled to
safety just as the mud engulfed their home. In studded
silence, they looked out over the valley where the town had
been.
Everything was gone. Officials from the government of
Columbia and reporters from newspapers, radio, and
television arrived in the morning . Rescue crews were sent to
the scene but were unable to reach those trapped inside
mudflows up to 40m (132ft) thick.
23,000 people died that night in Armero, and in villages
nearby. Three quarters of the people living in Armero were
swept away of drowned in the few minutes it took for the
swiftly moving mud to cover the town.
Rosita and her family are fictitious characters, but the
destruction really happened.
Coolest Erupting Lava. The volcano Oldouriyo Lengai,
Tanzania, erupts at temperatures of 500-600oC. Common
basaltic lavas erupt at temperatures between 1,100 and
1,2000oC.
Largest active volcano. Mauna Loa, Hawaii, USA, is the
largest active volcano. It has the shape of a broad gentle
dome 75 miles long and 31 miles wide (above sea level),
with lava lows that occupy more than 1,980 miles of the
island. It has a total volume of 10,200 miles3, of which 84%
is below sea level.
Oldest volcanic rocks on Earth. Volcanic rocks dated at
3.825 billion years have been discovered in the Inukjuak
area in the northern reaches of the province of Quebec,
Canada.
The precise dating of the rocks was performed by the
University of Quebec, Montreal, and the Simon Fraser
University in British Columbia (both Canada).
In 1979, when Voyager 1 flew past IO, (one of the moons of Jupiter)
the spacecraft was able to observe volcanic activity on the surface
at close range.
Volcanoes on IO are far more violent that those on Earth,
throwing out sulphurous gas and dust that moves as fast
as 200 m.p.h. Because the gravity on IO is much less
than Earth, volcanic gases can rise to more than 100
miles above the surface.
By Nicolle White
Mr Manson says . . . .
• Some good work and presentation Nicolle
but maybe would have been improved with
some pictures from the eruption. Also, not
sure about using the story about Rosita
like this – would have been better if you
made your own one up rather than
copying mine!
• A2