Name: Tale of Two Volcanoes
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<div class="rich-text">Two powerful volcanoes erupted in the same week, one in Guatemala, the other in Hawaii. The eruptions were not connected, and the devastation was entirely different. In Guatemala, a fast-moving pyroclastic flow engulfed the residents of a nearby village, killing more than a hundred people, and leaving a scene reminiscent of Pompeii. Meanwhile, in Hawaii, Kilauea’s slow-moving lava rivers have devastated hundreds of homes, although fortunately, they have not yet caused any deaths.
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Hawaii’s Kilauea and Guatemala’s Fuego volcanic eruptions have been remarkably destructive.

Hawaii’s Kilauea and Guatemala’s Fuego volcanic eruptions have been remarkably destructive

Tale of Two Volcanoes

<div class="rich-text">Hawaii’s Kilauea and Guatemala’s Fuego volcanic eruptions have been remarkably destructive.</div>

Planet Earth

<div class="rich-text"><h3>
 Tale of Two Volcanoes
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 Published June 14, 2018



 Onscreen:
 
 Two volcanoes just erupted with destructive power. Guatemala’s Volcán de Fuego and Hawaii’s Kilauea. The eruptions aren’t connected, and hazards are different


 At Fuego, hot volcanic ash and mud engulfed a nearby village. At least 75 people died, over 3,000 evacuated. And the death toll is expected to climb



 John Stix:
 
 EI Fuego is known for its pyroclastic flows.



 Onscreen:
 
 Pyroclastic flows are not lava.



 Stix:
 
 They’re very similar to snow avalanches. They move very fast, just like a snow avalanche does.



 Onscreen:
 
 Except pyroclastic particles consist of volcanic ash and rock, tumbling down a volcano at hundreds of miles per hour



 Stix:
 
 Anybody, or anything in the path of a pyroclastic flow, once it’s started, you don’t really have the time to get out of the way of it. So they will burn and asphyxiate anybody in their path. It’s a small-scale Pompeii, in a sense.



 Onscreen:
 
 The rainy season just started in Guatemala, increasing the risk of mudflows called lahars.



 Stix:
 
 Loose ash will mix with the rain and create mudflows that will impact a lot of people.



 Onscreen:
 
 They can travel farther than pyroclastic flows.



 Stix:
 
 They can move faster than you can run.



 Onscreen:
 
 Meanwhile, new explosions at Kilauea rocked the summit, sending ash thousands of feet into the air. And a new massive river of lava is believed to have destroyed nearly 300 homes.



 Stix:
 
 A lava flow is a slow-moving liquid which is highly viscous, not moving very fast...these lava flows have been moving slowly—people can get out of the way.



 Onscreen:
 
 So far, Kilauea’s recent activity has caused no deaths. But there may be more hazards to come.



 USGS Jessica Ballx:
 
 There is now a flow that has channelized south of the new delta.



 Onscreen:
 
 Stirring up a laze: a dangerous mix of lava and haze. Residents continue to keep an eye on both volcanoes.

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