Question: With volcanoes, wouldn't it take a long time to get the equipment ready for volcanoe protection, and so the volcanoe could go off before it is all set up?

Jonathan Stone answered on 11 Mar 2013:

This is such a great question. This has sometimes sadly been the case, where there simply hasn’t been enough time between the first signs of potential activity and a really damaging eruption, for volcanologists to properly monitor the volcano and start to understand its behaviour. Unfortunately, most of the world’s most dangerous volcanoes are in countries which are quite poor, and can’t afford any equipment. That is why my work focusses on using people living around the volcanoes to monitor them, with simple and cheap equipment.
Also, despite equipment, volcanoes can completely surprise us and erupt in ways that we don’t expect. A good example of this was Mt St Helens in 1980.