January is Volcano Awareness Month

In a Proclamation from the County of Hawai’i, January 2010 has been designated “Volcano Awareness Month.” Throughout the month, the USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory (HVO), in cooperation with Hawai’i Volcanoes National Park, Hawai’i County Civil Defense, and the University of Hawai’i at Hilo, will sponsor various events to promote the importance of understanding and respecting the volcanoes on which we live.–USGS Hawaii

For Sale by Owner via Tuman on Flickr

Imagine your home being buried under lava. Imagine your neighborhood destroyed by a creeping sea of liquid rock. The mind boggles, but it’s what happened in the town of Kalapana on the Big Island in 1990.

Ten years later, the USGS has declared Volcano Awareness Month, though certainly the (former) residents of Kalapana have been super aware of Kiluea for the last decade, it changed their lives. If you’ve got a four wheel drive vehicle, you can visit Kalapana, though it’s likely you’ll invalidate your rental car contract. There are some tour companies that will take you out there — and to Kapoho, another site taken by lava in 1960.

The Big Island remains an amazing place to become, well, aware, that you’re standing on a live volcano — even if you can’t see live lava, you can walk around on the open steam vents and sulfur flecked surface in Volcanoes National Park. Any time of year is a good time to learn a little geology, though during the month of January, there are additional activities on the calendar.