Science-Informed Planning For and Response to the 2018 Eruption of Kīlauea Volcano, Hawai'i: Lessons for the Next Domestic Eruption

The more than three-month-long 2018 eruption and partial summit collapse crisis at Kīlauea Volcano was the most destructive volcanic event in the United States since the eruption of Mount St. Helens in 1980. More than 700 structures in Hawaii Island's fast-growing Puna District were lost to lava flows or fire. Thousands of residents were displaced, widely-dispersed volcanic air pollution disrupted lives across the state, and the economic impact to the tourism-dominated island economy totaled in the hundreds of millions of dollars. No direct fatalities resulted from this eruption and there were few serious injuries. The success of the emergency response to prevent loss of life and minimize property loss rested on (1) longstanding understanding of lava flow hazards; (2) a well-exercised operational relationship among key agencies, including the USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory, National Park Service, and Hawai'i County Civil Defense; and (3) the ability of local agencies to integrate a large, multi-agency, federal incident command presence. In addition, in the years leading up to the 2018 events, periodic meetings and discussion of eruption scenarios with civil authorities and communities contributed to local readiness. The 35-year-long Pu'u 'Ō'ō eruption, the 2014-2015 Pāhoa lava flow crisis, and the 2008-2018 summit lava lake eruption had also pre-conditioned the public and other stakeholders to issues that would arise during the much more severe and fast-developing 2018 activity. Still, challenges included efficient application of new technology to the event response and a limited ability to integrate research interests due to logistical and jurisdictional constraints. Lessons learned from ongoing discussion of the 2018 Hawai'i response will continue to inform preparations for the next domestic eruption response and recovery effort.