The first annual workshop of IVHHN took place at the Cities on Volcanoes 3 conference in Hilo, Hawaii between 14-18 July 2003. This biennial meeting is intended to bring together emergency managers, volcanologists, health professionals etc. to discuss volcanic crisis-preparedness and management. The focus is deliberately multidisciplinary and was the ideal forum for the IVHHN workshop.
Workshop Overview
The workshop concentrated on reviewing work done to date and strategies for future research and collaborations. More than 70 people attended the workshop, which lasted four hours with over an hour for discussion, which was extremely fruitful. The speakers gave overviews of the work done in their discipline (e.g. toxicology, medicine etc.) and what needs to be achieved in the future. The Powerpoint presentations from the workshop will soon be available on this website for viewing and downloading.
The workshop helped to clarify the aims of IVHHN for the coming year. By the second annual workshop, we hope to achieve the following:
- Ash database - a database of well-characterized ash samples will be setup. The ash samples will be analyzed for size and composition, to give scientists, emergency managers and medics a better idea of ash hazard (respirability and silica content for example) at the onset of new eruptions. PLEASE SEND ASH SAMPLES TO CLAIRE HORWELL FOLLOWING DISCUSSION OF REQUIREMENTS BY EMAIL.
- Guidelines - a major aim of IVHHN is to produce guidelines and protocols on volcanic health hazard management, which will be ratified by IAVCEI and disseminated through volcano observatories to the public, scientists, local health practitioners and emergency managers. An immediate aim will be to post health information on this website so that health practitioners can access immediate information on acute health effects of ash and gas exposure and give advice to local populations on ash management (dust masks, roof/house cleaning etc.). This year, we will concentrate on writing guidelines/protocols for ash hazard management, moving on to gas hazard management next year.
- This website will be used as a 'clearing house' for useful information for those involved in decision/policy making regarding volcanic health hazard. For example, we aim to provide information on exposure limits (industrial/urban and volcanic) for SO2, CO2 and H2S from many countries around the world so that more informed decisions can be made for the appraisal of limits in volcanic areas.
- The field of volcanic health hazard research is growing rapidly. We hope that the first workshop of IVHHN acted as a useful forum for discussion. We also hope that the meeting will have encouraged delegates to apply for funding and to follow up discussions which will lead to future collaborations.