The Aim of COV5
The main goal of this conference is to bring together volcanologists, city planners, social scientists, disaster managers, the medical community, engineers, mass media, local people and so on to exchange and understand their experiences and knowledge in order to evaluate and improve prevention/mitigation measures, land-use planning, emergency management, and all required to successfully confront volcanic crises in densely populated area and to recover from any devastation. The conference venue, Shimabara, is a city that has developed at the foot of the beautiful but hazardous Unzen Volcano. We believe that it provides an excellent stage for discussion on the coexistence of volcanoes and cities.
Japan's islands have more than 100 active volcanoes with an average 5 volcanoes erupting every year. Mount Fuji, which has not erupted for about 300 years, poses great danger to the mega city of Tokyo and the surrounding area, down wind of this volcano, with a population of about 30 million. Furthermore, active volcanoes with geologic records of caldera-forming eruptions exist in both southern and northern Japan.
Among recent eruptions, an eruption at Unzen Volcano between 1990 and 1995 and eruptions at Usu and Miyakejima volcanoes in 2000 are prominent. Pyroclastic flows cascaded from the summit dome of Unzen, killing 44 people including Katia and Maurice Krafft and Harry Glicken, members of the mass media, and local residents. This tragic event ignited the current effort in volcanic disaster mitigation in Japan.
Unzen is a volcano whose sector-collapse generated a debris avalanche and resulting tsunami, causing 15,000 casualties in 1792. Shimabara recovered from this catastrophic damage, only to suffer disasters from the many pyroclastic and debris flows that occurred between 1990 and 1995. The city recovered from this second wave of volcanic devastation as well. Unzen is also one of the most thoroughly studied volcanoes in the world, with geophysical and geochemical monitoring during the last eruption and recent scientific drilling.
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