The Trump administration’s downsizing has seemingly cast a pall over a longtime, lifesaving collaboration that protects people from possible volcano eruptions.
A joint effort started in 1986 by the U.S. Geological Survey and the U.S. Agency for International Development, the Volcano Disaster Assistance Program trains foreign scientists, assists with volcano crisis response, educates U.S. emergency management personnel and donates monitoring equipment, among other efforts.
“In the entire world, there is no comparable group with such well-honed expertise,” Patricia Mothes, a volcanologist at Ecuador’s Instituto Geofísico de la Escuela Politécnica Nacional, wrote last year.
Mothes’ praise accompanied a presentation last December as the volcano program received the American Geophysical Union’s annual international award.
