Secondary hazards and the multi-disciplinary challenge: a roadmap towards multi-hazard collaboration with the world of hydrometeorology

Virtually every secondary volcanic hazard is influenced by hydrometeorological factors. Lahars, mudflows, floods and landslides can be rainfall-affected. Fires spread in wind and dry conditions. Tsunamis interact with other sources of coastal inundation. Ash and gas are blown on the wind. It is neither efficient nor desirable to manage these hazards without close cooperation with hydrometeorological services, seamlessly working with emergency management and across borders as needed.

In early 2023, a workshop was held following IAVCEI in Rotorua, New Zealand, to discuss a future vision and roadmap for multi-hazard early warning systems. The workshop was attended by a mixture of operationally focused volcanologists and meteorologists, with the recently announced UN ‘Early Warnings for All’ initiative and progress towards advancing the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction being the major foci. Here we present the key conclusions of that workshop, both in terms of a future ‘vision’ for multi-hazard operations, and a roadmap for achieving that vision. We believe that these outputs will be useful in terms of both outlining the big picture outcomes for us to be striving towards together, and a number of strategic and practical actions that will help it to happen.