Humans on Volcanoes: geoheritage, perception and preparing for visitor safety

You can only go so far, scientifically, in monitoring and modelling volcanic processes before you are confronted with the messy reality, that people are involved. We have plenty of cases where good science, good hazard assessment and good intentions have not helped, such as Armero, in Colombia 1985, or Fuego in Guatemala 2018. Sometimes as more recently in New Zealand (Whakaari, 2019), people go to the most extreme places and get singed, some with no idea that they were at risk. There is a lack of information in most volcanic areas, that is specifically dedicated to visitor safety, and when it does exist it is not necessarily adapted to reach the target audience (the unsuspecting visitors). With Sebastien Roquette of the communication and society laboratory at Univeristé Clermont Auvergne, and colleagues from INETER (Nicaraguan Institute of Territorial Studies), and three interns from Clermon and Managua, we have studied visitor and local actor perception of risk in a geopark project on the Island of Ometepe, Lake Nicaragua, which has two volcanoes (one active, one dormant). The geopark project provides a framework for communities to integrate scientific advances (e.g. in hazards) in their daily activities To do this we had to design and develop a communication campaign of posters and leaflets that we considered adapted to the area. I will share the communication campaign with you, and the methodology behind the production. Then I'll briefly talk about the results of the survey (the data is being analysed still) and finally we'll explore how the scientific community can involve themselves in this sort of highly practical work to everyone's mutual benefit