We see that javascript is disabled or not supported by your browser - javascript is needed for important actions on the site. Read more

What's New - Home - Login

Member $avings: $81,555,932.32 | Books Available: 798,402 | Members Online: 241

Swap Used Books - Buy New Books at Great Prices!

How To Swap Books Sign Up Search submenu

PBS Market (New Books)

Gift Buying Guide

Book Browser Advanced Search Books Posted Today Member Book Reviews Award Winning Books NYT Best Sellers Amazon Best Sellers Most Traveled Copies Club Wish List

Discussion Forums Book Lists

Club Lists My Book Lists My Watched Lists Create a List

Blog Donations

School Donation Program In Memory of... Military Donation Program Friends of PBS

Box-O-Books Maps The Eclectic Pen Fun Stuff

20 Questions Sudoku Bookmark Creator

Top 100

Requests Posts Swappers Referrers Reviewers

Pulse of PBS Spread The Word

Invite Friends Bookmarks Facebook Page Facebook App More Ways...

Photo Gallery Recipes Club Tag Cloud Member Testimonials

Help Center submenu

How To Swap Books Browse Help Docs Ask the Librarian PBS Member Icons Live Help

Kiosk

PBS Market (New Books) Go Shopping Buy Credits Buy PBS Money Upgrade Membership Gift Certificates Transfer Credits

Need Help?

Search - No Apparent Danger: The True Story of Volcanic Disaster at Galeras and Nevado del Ruiz

No Apparent Danger The True Story of Volcanic Disaster at Galeras and Nevado del Ruiz
Author: Victoria Bruce

On January 14, 1993, a team of scientists descended into the crater of Galeras, a restless Andean volcano in southern Colombia, for a day of field research. As the group slowly moved across the rocky moonscape of the caldera near the heart of the volcano, Galeras erupted, its crater exploding in a barrage of burning rocks and glowing shrapnel. N... more »ine men died instantly, their bodies torn apart by the blast.

While others watched helplessly from the rim, Colombian geologist Marta Calvache raced into the rumbling crater, praying to find survivors. This was Calvache's second volcanic disaster in less than a decade. In 1985 Calvache was part of a group of Colombia's brightest young scientists that had been studying activity at Nevado del Ruiz, a volcano three hundred miles north of Galeras. They had warned of the dire consequences of an eruption for months, but their fledgling coalition lacked the resources and muscle to implement a plan of action or sway public opinion. When Nevado del Ruiz erupted suddenly in November 1985, it wiped the city of Armero off the face of the earth and killed more than twenty-three thousand people -- one of the worst natural disasters of the twentieth century.

No Apparent Danger links the characters and events of these two eruptions to tell a riveting story of scientific tragedy and human heroism. In the aftermath of Nevado del Ruiz, volcanologists from all over the world came to Galeras -- some to ensure that such horrors would never be repeated, some to conduct cutting-edge research, and some for personal gain. Seismologists, gas chemists, geologists, and geophysicists hoped to combine their separate areas of expertise to better understand and predict the behavior of monumental forces at work deep within the earth.

And yet, despite such expertise, experience, and training, crucial data were ignored or overlooked, essential safety precautions were bypassed, and fifteen people descended into a death trap at Galeras. Incredibly, expedition leader Stanley Williams was one of five who survived, aided bravely by Marta Calvache and her colleagues. But nine others were not so lucky.

Expertly detailing the turbulent history of Colombia and the geology of its snow-peaked volcanoes, Victoria Bruce weaves together the stories of the heroes, victims, survivors, and bystanders, evoking with great sensitivity what it means to live in the shadow of a volcano, a hair's-breadth away from unthinkable natural calamity, and shows how clashing cultures and scientific arrogance resulted in tragic and unnecessary loss of life.

ISBN-13: 9780060199203
ISBN-10: 0060199202
Publication Date: 3/2001
Pages: 256
Rating:

Currently 4/5 Stars.

4 stars, based on 6 ratings

Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Book Type: Hardcover
Other Versions: Paperback
Reviews: Member | Amazon | Write a Review

Read All 1 Book Reviews of "No Apparent Danger The True Story of Volcanic Disaster at Galeras and Nevado del Ruiz"

Please Log in to Rate these Book Reviews

Heather reviewed No Apparent Danger: The True Story of Volcanic Disaster at Galeras and Nevado del Ruiz on 5/28/2007

This is the finest sort of journalism Ferociously well researched and impossible to put down every tradgedy should be treated with such thoroghness and respect.Blurb from the back of the book by the Author of "A Perfect Storm"

Share/Like this Review?

Read All Book Reviews of "No Apparent Danger The True Story of Volcanic Disaster at Galeras and Nevado del Ruiz"

Genres:

History >> Americas >> South America
History >> Americas >> South America >> Colombia
Science & Math >> Earth Sciences >> Natural Disasters
Science & Math >> General
Science & Math >> Mathematics >> History
Outdoors & Nature >> Field Guides >> Regional >> South America

Back to the Top ↑

Search - No Apparent Danger: The True Story of Volcanic Disaster at Galeras and Nevado del Ruiz

Please Log in to Rate these Book Reviews

Loading...