Irazú Volcano in Costa Rica

[kyonides]

Well, today I want you to meet the Irazú volcano located in Cartago, Costa Rica. You might have heard about volcanoes before, especially if you have been in places like Hawaii or Italy, where you can also find them and even watch them erupt for a while (like a couple of days or weeks), but you might ignore how this little fellow changed Costa Rican history long time ago.

In 1963 everything seemed normal, even JFK visited Costa Rica in order to utter one of his famous(?) speeches. Comically, it seems the Irazú did not like him at all. It started erupting ashes that very same day, forcing that American president to leave as soon as his political goals were achieved.

First of all take a look at the culprit!  

Yeah, guys, it might look beautiful and dangerous for sure!

Oh, I forgot to tell you that the following photograph was taken later on, in the 80s it seems. Still, it lets you get the feeling of how was life back then.

Then people soon realized that they needed to clean up the streets on their own! Even if there were some vehicles to do the job, it was just too much to be ignored by townsfolk.

You might now think I am just exaggerating here. The truth is that the Irazú volcano erupted so many ashes that it filled a river causing it to flood the surrounding area, burying a whole town and killing hundreds of people and animals. It was a real tragedy back then. Local channels still possess a copy of an old news report video taken back then, spoken in English. Later on it would be translated into Spanish and it is kept as a true relic of times long forgotten.

[kyonides]

Just when we thought that the Irazu volcano would get some sleep, it caught us by surprise! Yesterday one if it's inner walls has collapsed, it included lots of debris, enough to bury one or two stadiums if ever needed... You might think it's normal for a crater, but whenever solid materials fall in the crater's lake, a huge volcanic eruption may take place at any moment. When the landslide took place, a giant tide could be seen there, they say it was about 50 meters tall... Sounds scary indeed! Especially if that's isn't the only wall that might collapse any time soon!

https://www.crhoy.com/nacionales/parte-d...er-activo/

[DerVVulfman]

By surprise? I just read that article and it said that the sliding material issue was detected in 2004! Surprise my furry werewolf ... um...

[kyonides]

Well, if there had been heavy rains that could wash the walls making them fall down, then yeah, I would agree with you. Still, this year has been quite dry, except for Limon province that has no direct connection with the tremors or whatsoever had caused the landslide yesterday. We just hope that the crater won't get fully covered by debris any time soon or there won't be just another small eruption coming our way but a real explosion! Even if it may only consist of ashes and small rocks... We already had a small crisis when its cousin the Turrialba volcano erupted and forced the authorities to shut down all airport operations for about a day.