How far away are the villages from Mount Kilauea?

rocky Ranisha Pendleton

Hi Ranisha,

Our Hawaiian volcanoes are really big, so there isn't any part of the island that isn't actally on one volcano or another. The important thing from a hazards point of view is whether you are living close to the summit caldera or rift zone, or if you are living down on the lower flanks. Both the summit and rift zones are places where the volcano tends to erupt much more often so living there is not a good idea. Of course the lower flanks are downhill from the summit and rift zones so if the eruption lasts long enough lava may get down there also.

The town of Volcano is only about 1 kilometer from the rim of Kilauea caldera. This means that it is not in a very good place. The lava flows that the town is built on are only 200-400 years old so nobody who lives there should be too surprised if the place gets covered up some day. The town of Pahoa is about 35 kilometers from the caldera but it is only about 2 km from the rift zone, so it is not in such a good place either. Kapoho was right on the rift zone and it was destroyed by the 1960 eruption. Kalapana was on the flank, about 10 km from the rift zone (and 40 km from the summit) but because it was downhill from the rift zone, and the eruption lasted long enough, the lava eventually ran through the town.

It might help if you take a look at a map of the big island while reading this answer.

Sincerely,

Scott Rowland, University of Hawaii 

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