Public Outreach
The Center for the Study of Active Volcanoes (CSAV) conducts natural hazards educational programs for several different groups: community associations, schoolchildren, schoolteachers, and the general public. The subjects covered are: earthquakes, lava flows, tsunamis, floods, landslides, and hurricanes.
Our presentations are interesting and informative, featuring knowledgeable speakers. We provide displays and models, hands-on demonstrations, and printed materials to take home. Besides explaining the nature of the hazard and its effects, we describe practical things you can do in advance that will lessen the impact when disaster strikes--thus protecting yourself, your family, and your property from harm. For more detailed information on mitigation, please visit our Natural Hazards web page.
Don Thomas, CSAV Director, explains how to build shear walls, to mitigate earthquake damage.
You can secure bookcases and heavy TV sets now, before the next earthquake.
Visiting Schools
Visiting Schools is our most popular program. Trained CSAV staff members go out to classrooms throughout the Big Island and present information on earthquakes and tsunamis, lava flows and vog, hurricanes and flash floods. All of these presentations include demonstrations and audience participation. Contact us for a Big Island visit!
David Carvalho discusses earthquake hazards with a group of school children .
Darcy Bevens talks with students about proper field gear to wear around lava.
Public Seminars
Public Seminars produced by CSAV are held periodically at the UH Hilo Campus Center Auditorium, and other locations. These seminars feature a variety of presentations, and the audience is invited to ask questions. The seminars are free and everyone is welcome; check the Natural Hazards web page for upcoming dates.
Don Swanson discusses Mauna Loa at a CSAV seminar in Kona.
Wayne Metcalf talks about insurance at a Maui seminar on hurricanes.
Community Association Visits
Community Association Visits are an effective way in which CSAV keeps the public informed about earthquakes and mitigation measures. A knowledgeable speaker from the CSAV staff is available to visit your community association or similar group. After reviewing the nature of earthquakes in general, the speaker will describe ways to strengthen your home against future earthquakes, thus greatly lessening future damage from quakes.
Teacher Training Workshops
Teacher Training Workshops are the most far-reaching of CSAV's natural hazards educational programs, because the teachers trained will pass the information on to their students for many years to come. Teachers who attend these workshops attend a morning seminar, then meet in the afternoon to discuss how to apply the information back in their classrooms and to develop lesson plans; two weeks later, they meet again to analyze how the plans worked and to share ideas with one another. Field trips are always included in the workshops.
At a community association meeting in Puna, Don Thomas describes how to strengthen an older post-and-pier foundation.
During a Teacher Training Workshop, elementary school teachers on Kauai design interesting and informative lesson plans about natural hazards.
On the Big Island, the Teacher Training Workshop included many field trips, such as this one to Green Sands Beach with Bob Decker.