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Volcanoes

This Month

Mount Etna erupts.

Tourists flee as Mount Etna erupts in Sicily

The Italian volcano sent ash plumes thousands of metres into the air, but authorities said there was no danger to human life.

March 2023

Lava flows down from the crater of Mount Merapi.

Volcano eruption blocks out the sun, closes mines

Mount Merapi, on the densely populated island of Java, unleashed clouds of hot ash 100 metres into the air and sent lava down the slopes near villages.

November 2022

Documentary Fire of Love follows French volcano chasers Katia and Maurice Krafft.

They died doing what they loved – chasing volcanoes

A new documentary about French volcanologists Katia and Maurice Krafft tells the surprisingly uplifting tale of a very romantic death.

January 2022

Australian Defence Force personnel sweep volcanic ash from Tonga’s Fuaʻamotu International Airport.

COVID-19 disrupts aid flight to tsunami-hit Tonga

The UN says assessment teams have reached most parts of the country, including remote and isolated islands, and it is concerned about access to safe water for 50,000 people.

Clean-up on Tonga’s main island. Minor islands took the brunt of Saturday’s volcanic eruption and tsunami.

First aid flights arrive in Tonga

New Zealand and Australia each sent military transport planes that were carrying water containers, kits for temporary shelters, generators, hygiene supplies and communications equipment.

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n this photo provided by the New Zealand defence force, a crew member from an Orion aircraft inspects an area of Tonga with heavy ash fall from the volcanic eruption.

Tsunami-hit Tonga islands suffered ‘catastrophic’ damage

Tonga police have told the New Zealand High Commission that the confirmed death toll stands at two, but with communications in the South Pacific island nation cut, the true extent of casualties was not clear.

The explosion on Saturday off Tonga, with lightening seen nearby.

Tonga shrouded by ash and mystery after volcano eruption

As concerns grew, the nation of about 100,000 remained largely cut off from the rest of world, its undersea internet cables knocked out of commission by the volcano.

December 2021

A woman walks in an area affected by the eruption of Mount Semeru in Lumajang, East Java.

Death toll rises to 13 in Indonesia volcano eruption

Mount Semeru in East Java spewed columns of ash more than 12,000 metres into the sky, and searing gas and lava flowed down its slopes after a sudden eruption.

May 2021

Many people fled to the city centre from villages and neighbourhoods threatened by lava on the northern outskirts of Goma.

Thousands flee as volcano erupts in eastern Congo

Nyiragongo’s last eruption in 2002 killed 250 people and left 120,000 homeless. It is one of the world’s most active volcanoes and is considered among the most dangerous.

January 2020

Residents clean ash outside their homes as Taal volcano spews ash on Monday.

Lava gushes from Philippine volcano as ash spreads to Manila

Red-hot lava gushed out of a Philippine volcano on Monday after a sudden eruption of ash and steam that forced villagers to flee and shut down Manila's international airport, offices and schools.

Gavin Dallow was killed in the eruption and his wife, Lisa Hosking, is in a critical but stable condition in hospital.

Mourners farewell volcano victim

About 600 mourners farewelled 53-year-old Gavin Dallo during a funeral service held at Adelaide Oval.

December 2019

Sydney teenager Winona Langford is missing and presumed dead after the volcano disaster.

Police end search for last two volcano victims

Sydney teenager Winona Langford and New Zealand tour guide Hayden Marshall-Inman were presumed to have been killed in the eruption, but their bodies were never found.

The deadly White Island eruption.

Death toll from volcano eruption rises to 19

Another person had died in hospital as a result of burns sustained when tourists were caught in a volcanic eruption in New Zealand two weeks ago.

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern with Foreign Minister Marise Payne.

Payne breaks down speaking about volcano victims

The Foreign minister is overcome when speaking about the victims of the White Island eruption.

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern observes a moment of silence with her cabinet colleagues at the moment that a volcano erupted a week earlier.

Volcano penalties could be up to five years' jail

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said on Monday that official inquiries into last week's fatal volcano eruption could take up to a year, and will carry potential criminal penalties of up to five years in jail.

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Members of the recovery team undergo decontamination after their mission.

Search for White Island victims hindered by toxic air, water

Police released the names of a further four victims on Sunday and a further victim died in hospital, bringing the death toll of Australians to 10.

The team, huddled in yellow suits, gather at the entrance to the island on Friday.

Recovery team face knee-deep ash, boiling acid

The bodies were more than a quarter-mile from shore, some on higher ground, on a scorched, moonlike landscape shrouded in toxic gas.

The volcano on White Island erupted on Monday.

Tragedy forces New Zealand to reassess risk

Rocked by earthquakes and volcano eruptions, New Zealand is a nation that has had to look more closely at risk – and how it is assessed – than most other countries have had to.

Jacinda Ardern speaks of the heroism of the helicopter pilots who attempted to rescue people from White Island.

Safety questions 'must be answered': Ardern

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has conceded questions about safety on the country's most active volcano "must be answered", as the search for bodies missing on White Island continues.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has confirmed as many as three Australians have died as a result of the deadly volcano eruption in New Zealand on Monday.

Six bodies recovered expected to be Australian

New Zealand authorities have recovered six of the victims left behind on White Island eruption lifting the death toll of Australians to 16.

Original URL: https://www.afr.com/topic/volcanoes-jps