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The health hazards of volcanoes and geothermal areas

¹ Department of Epidemiology & Public Health, Imperial College London, London, UK
² Department of Earth Sciences, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
³ Department of Geography, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK

Correspondence to:
Correspondence to:
Dr A L Hansell
Department of Epidemiology & Public Health, Imperial College London, Norfolk Place, London W2 1PG, UK; a.hansell@imperial.ac.uk

Keywords: volcanic eruption; natural disasters; disaster planning; environmental pollutants; risk

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

Volcanoes and their eruptions can result in a wide range of health impacts, arguably more varied than in any other kind of natural disaster. At least 500 million people worldwide live within potential exposure range of a volcano that has been active within recorded history. Many volcanic and geothermal regions are densely populated and several are close to major cities, threatening local populations (fig 1). Volcanic activity can also affect areas hundreds or thousands of kilometres away, as a result of airborne dispersion of gases and ash, or even on a hemispheric to global scale due to impacts on climate. Healthcare workers and physicians responding to the needs of volcanic risk management might therefore find themselves involved in scenarios as varied as disaster planning, epidemiological surveillance, treating the injured, or advising on the health hazards associated with long range transport of volcanic emissions.

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