By the A.M. Costa Rica staff

The nonprofit organization Volcanoes without Borders, in Spanish Volcanos sin Fronteras, announced the Monte Olimpo project, which was created to educate children about precautionary measures and what to do in the event of an eruption of a volcano.

According to environmentalists, these trainings were approved by the Ministry of Education and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, known as UNESCO.

The professionals started the project of training children between 8 and 12 years, about vital information related to the country's volcanoes characteristics.

With practical and didactic examples, experts have explained to children what the danger is and how to act in case of an eruption.

"With this project, we hope the children will share the information with their family, friends and other children in their neighborhoods," said Gino González, a volcanologist and president of Volcanoes without Borders.

According to specialists, people think that volcanoes are only in the volcanic mountain range, most of the people do not know that, for example, Cocos Island is a volcano under the sea.

"The volcanoes are creators of unique ecosystems; they make the conditions to develop different types of forests, deep marine environments, even organisms that live in high acidity and high temperatures, called extremophiles," said Carolina Salas-Moya, an expert in volcano biology. "This project teaches this and many other things to children in schools."

The education project has already trained 200 children from 14 schools located nearby volcanoes, such as Poas*, Rincon de la Vieja*, Arenal*, among others, said the specialist.

In the second phase, the organization seeks to take the classes to the rest of the country's schools, to create a book to support the lessons and to produce a video about these courses.

More information about this project can be reached at Monte Olimpo Project site here.*



Related to recently volcano eruption, was reported on A.M. Costa Rica in June, when specialists from the Volcanological and Seismological Observatory reported an eruption was recorded at the Poás Volcano*.

According to the report of the specialists, at 6 a.m. an eruption was recorded on the volcano, which lasted approximately six minutes. However, the height reached by the gas column could not be calculated due to cloudy conditions at the site.

The specialists registered an increase in seismic activity. "In the past week several volcano-tectonic earthquakes of low amplitude and magnitude less than 2 have been registered. This is happening under the crater suggesting fracturing of rock under the Poás crater,” said the specialists.

People in the area reported to the National Emergency Commission that several loud noises were heard and then they saw an erupting column ascending from the crater of Poás, followed by ashfall in the towns of Cajón, San Luis, Los Ángeles, San Miguel, San Isidro, San Roque," said the commission in its report.

In February, a series of eruptions were reported at Poás Volcano. After 24 hours of observation, during which there was a decrease in seismicity and in volcanic gases carbon dioxide and sulfur dioxide, the National Emergency Commission recommended limiting access to the volcano as a precaution.

The volcano access was reopened in September 2018 after being closed for 16 months.



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Should this volcano learning course become part of the national curriculum in all schools?  We would like to know your thoughts on this story. Send your comments to news@amcostarica.com

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