sexta-feira, junho 03, 2022

Os Kraft, vulcanólogos alsacianos, morreram na erupção do vulcão Unzen há 31 anos...

   
Katia Krafft (Mulhouse, 17 April 19423 June 1991) and her husband, Maurice Krafft (Guebwiller, 25 March 19463 June 1991) were French volcanologists who died in a pyroclastic flow on Mount Unzen, in Japan, on June 3, 1991. Their obituary appeared in the Bulletin of Volcanology, (vol. 54, pp 613–614).
Maurice and Katia were known for being pioneers in filming, photographing and recording volcanoes, often getting within feet of lava flows. They met at Strasbourg University, and their career as volcano observers began soon after. With little money, they saved up for a trip to Stromboli and photographed the eruption. Finding that people were interested in this documentation of eruptions, they soon made a career out of this, which afforded them the ability to travel the globe.
The Kraffts were often the first to arrive at an active volcano, and were respected and envied by many volcanologists. Their footage of the effects of volcanic eruptions was a considerable factor in gaining the cooperation of local authorities faced with volcanic threats. One notable example of this was after the onset of activity at Mount Pinatubo in 1991, where their video of the effects of the eruption of Nevado del Ruiz in Colombia was shown to large numbers of people, including Philippine President Cory Aquino, and convinced many skeptics that evacuation of the area would be necessary.
In June 1991, while filming eruptions at Mount Unzen, they were caught in a pyroclastic flow which unexpectedly swept out of a channel others had been flowing down and onto the ridge they were standing on. They were killed instantly, along with 40 journalists also covering the eruptions.
The work of the Kraffts was highlighted in a video issue of National Geographic, which contained a large amount of their film footage and photographs as well as interviews with both. Maurice is famous for saying in the video that "I am never afraid because I have seen so much eruptions in 23 years that even if I die tomorrow, I don't care," coincidentally on the day before his death. Volcano: Nature's Inferno. [videorecording]. Washington, DC: National Geographic Society. 2003.



PS - um casal unido em vida (e na morte...) pelo amor aos vulcões...


ADENDA: o vulcanólogo Harry Glicken morreu também neste mesmo dia - curiosamente era quem estava escalado para observar a erupção do Monte de Santa Helena, em 18 de Maio de 1980, data em que se libertou a nuvem ardente que matou o seu substituto, o vulcanólogo David A. Johnston. A morte adiou-lhe a sentença por 11 anos e 16 dias...

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