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Crisis Management

IVHHN briefing notes for eruption management and information

IVHHN has developed some briefing notes to help emergency managers and government agencies make decisions on protecting communities from volcanic emissions. The following documents continue to be edited, as appropriate, for different eruptions.

  1. Briefing note on water quality management (last updated 28 June 2021)
  2. Briefing note on air quality management (last updated 16 April 2021)
  3. Briefing note on ash clean-up health & safety (last updated 20 April 2021)

The following briefing notes also may be of interest to the public and media professionals:

  1. Briefing note on comparing volcanic emissions (flux) data with air quality data (last updated 13 May 2021)
  2. NEW: Briefing note on comparing air quality forecasts with air quality data (last updated 6 December 2022)

Eruption-specific information:


External resources

IVHHN recommends the following slide set on ash clean-up, developed by Dr Josh Hayes (Earth Observatory Singapore) and Prof Tom Wilson (Universit of Canterbury, NZ). Clean-up afer volcanic eruptions - considerations for St Vincent slide set

This slide set compliments posters commissioned by USAID, the Volcano Disaster Assistance Programme and US Geological Survey, providing concise best practice information for critical infrastructure managers to effectively prepare for, respond to, and recover from ash-producing volcanic eruptions. 

  • Advice for airport operators  Airport.pdf (632.83 kB)
  • Advice for facilities managers - buildings Buildings.pdf (675.54 kB)
  • Advice for operators of generators and HVAC systems HVAC.pdf (516.23 kB)
  • Advice for power plant operators Power-Plant.pdf (1,003.08 kB)
  • Advice for power transmission and distribution system operations Power-Transmission.pdf (612.76 kB)
  • Advice for road network operators Road-network.pdf (650.50 kB)
  • Advice for urban clean-up operations Urban.pdf (596.39 kB)
  • Advice for wastewater collection and treatment managers Wastewater.pdf (722.00 kB)
  • Advice for water treatment plant managers Water-treatment.pdf (632.02 kB)

Rapid ash respiratory hazard assessments

IVHHN has protocols for rapid geochemical and toxicological characterisation of volcanic ash for respiratory health hazard assessment which have been applied during a number of eruption crises. Below are IVHHN reports and/or journal publications from prior to 2021. Recent reports will be posted here once the journal publication process is completed. NB: IVHHN did not conduct any crisis response analyses between 2013 and 2020; local universities and agencies may have used IVHHN protocols for their own hazard assessments.


IVHHN supports eruption preparedness and response

The following article, published to celebrate 20 years of IVHHN activities, summarises the support that we offer for planning for, and responding to, eruption crises, in relation to health impacts: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/feart.2023.1213363/full