The world's largest active volcano has erupted in Hawaii for the first time in nearly four decades, officials say.
The USGS said that “heightened unrest” began mid-September, when earthquakes beneath the summit increased from 10 to 20 per day to 40 to 50 per day. That unrest prompted the Hawaii Volcanoes National Park to close the summit backcountry until further notice,Ken Hon of the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory said the earthquakes mainly occurred due to the weight of the mountain slowly sliding toward the ocean, KHNL reported.
The volcano, whose name means"Long Mountain," covers half of the island, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. Prior to its most recent eruption, it erupted 33 times, beginning in 1843, making it among the world's most active volcanoes. It is one of six volcanoes in the state of Hawaii,About half of those past eruptions remained in the summit region —which rises about 55,700 feet above its base, according to the U.S.
"Hawaiian lava flows have rarely caused human fatalities, but they can cause extensive damage by covering, burning, and crushing anything in their paths, or starting secondary fires," according to the USGS, which adds that interactions between water and lava"can also sometimes be explosive in coastal environments."
When the volcano's northeast flank erupted in 1984, residents had time to prepare, as the eruption occurred in a"higher slope area" and took longer for the lava to travel towards the town of— the town located in the island's northeast region and home to the Hilo International Airport — former Hawaii County Mayor Harry Kim, who was the civil defense administrator at the time, told KHNL. That eruption lasted three weeks, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
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