In addition to Ubinas, the volcanoes that are active at the moment

On July 4th the ubinas volcano, located in the Moquegua region in Peru, began its explosive phase. In just two days, 17 detonations were recorded, which has led several districts in the area to declare a State of Emergency. The emitted ashes are generating health problems in the population.

The Geophysical Institute of Peru (IGP) reported that even before this pop the ashes and gases emitted by the ubinas volcano They affected the populated centers that are located in the south and southeast of the volcano, such as the districts of Ubinas and Matalaque, for which reason their transfer is being coordinated.

But ubinas It’s not the only one active volcano. A report from the EFE Agency states that there are almost 30 erupting volcanoes in the world, but it is a relatively small number and, in fact, “that there is only that number is more abnormal than if there were 50,” said the president of the College of Geologists from Spain, Manuel Regueiro.

“The volcanic zones are many: the edges of the tectonic plates occupy millions of kilometers,” he added.

All this without forgetting the seven volcanoes erupting in the area of ​​Indonesia like the Karangetang or the Dukono, while the so-called Ring of Fire in the Philippines has another five craters “with practically daily explosions.”

In Ecuador, meanwhile, the sangay volcano, At 5,230 meters above sea level and located in the Amazonian province of Morona Santiago (central east), it has recorded a total of 520 explosions in the last 24 hours.

“At night and when the atmospheric conditions have allowed it, an incandescent glow has been observed in the Sangay crater, which has spewed puffs of gases and ash, like clouds that have risen to about 1,500 meters above the summit.”

List of active volcanoes

• Stromboli (Italy)
• Python de la Fournaise (Reunion Island, France)
• Taal (Philippines)
• Lokon Empung (Indonesia)
• Kuchinoerabujima (Southern Japan)
• Merapí (Indonesia)
• Semeru (Indonesia)
• Suwanosejima (Japan)
• Lewotolok (Indonesia)
• Klyuchevsky (Russia)
• Shiveluch (Russia)
• Kilauea, Hawaii
• great sitkin
• Mayonn (Philippines)
• ubinas (Peru)
• Sangay (Ecuador)
• Cotopaxi (Ecuador)
• Santa Maria (Guatemala)
• Fire
• Rincon de la Vieja (Costa Rica)
• fragadalsfjal

Effects of eruptions

During the rashesthe volcanoes “always emit gases such as carbon dioxide and sulfur dioxide“and sometimes they can launch them into the upper layers of the atmosphere, twenty or thirty kilometers high, with worldwide effects, as in the cases of Krakatoa or Tambora,” said Martín, who recalled that “the Pinatubo in the Philippines saturated all the CO2 meters that were available at that time”.

CO2 “displaces oxygen and prevents breathing” and an example is the Canary Island of La Palma where, almost two years after the eruption of Tajogaite, “the volcano is in a state of calm but there is residual activity, high temperatures and emission of gases that prevent the return of the neighbors” to towns like Puerto Naos or La Bombilla.

Especially toxic is sulfurthat they also emit and that it can cause “contamination of water, pastures and animal feed” and, “if it combines with water, it generates sulfuric acid”.

In fact, Regueiro pointed out that the atmospheric effect of a volcano “It remains in time due to the immense amount of material it puts in suspension” beyond other specific effects such as the meteotsunamis caused in January 2022 by the Hunga Tonga submarine volcano in the South Pacific area.

Despite the “enormous impact” of the gases emitted by volcanoes, these are “specific moments” compared to human emissions “that we do permanently.”

In the case of Spain, Regueiro pointed out that “no eruption is expected in the short term” although, after the example of what happened in La Palma, “people who live on volcanic islands assume the risk that this could happen” at some point. moment and cites the example of the barely 400 permanent inhabitants of the Italian island of Stromboli, in the Tyrrhenian Sea, who live with a constantly erupting volcano.

With information from EFE