Unlike small creatures, big animals had no place to hide from the eruption. An eruption in Colombia 1985 was the catalyst for the program. A remote Andean peak called Navado Del Ruiz showered scorching ash and rock onto glaciers. And the resulting meltdown set off tremendous mudflows that sped down ravines and water courses.
Some 23,000 people died in one village. But they might have escape death if they had been warned to flee in time. It was this realization that prompted USGS and the U.S. Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance to create VDAP. The team has already response to more than 20 calls around the world, with greatest success in the Philippines. A string of volcanoes, among them mount Pinatubo, beads the west coast of Luzon, the largest and the most heavily populated of the island. These peaks are part of the ring of fire that encircles the Pacific Ocean and includes the volcanoes of the Alaska and cascades.