New Focus for Volcanologists Is Threat Posed by Sudden, Vast Landslides

The first indication that something had gone terribly wrong was a rumble, a sound similar to that of an approaching thunderstorm or a fleet of low-flying helicopters.

When the ground began to tremble, some residents of the Nicaraguan towns of El Porvenir and Rolando braced themselves for an earthquake. Others thought a nearby volcano might be in the initial stages of an eruption. But the disaster, on October 30, 1998, proved to be much worse than either possibility.

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