Cities near volcanoes: which cities are most exposed to volcanic hazards?

Meredith, Elinor S.; Teng, Rui Xue Natalie; Jenkins, Susanna F.; Hayes, Josh L.; Biass, Sébastien; Handley, Heather

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-25-2731-2025

Articles | Volume 25, issue 8

https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-25-2731-2025

© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-25-2731-2025

© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 25, issue 8

Research article

|

15 Aug 2025

Research article |

| 15 Aug 2025

Cities near volcanoes: which cities are most exposed to volcanic hazards?

Elinor S. Meredith, Rui Xue Natalie Teng, Susanna F. Jenkins, Josh L. Hayes, Sébastien Biass, and Heather Handley

Data sets

Related data for: Cities near volcanoes: Which cities are most exposed to volcanic hazards? Elinor S. Meredith et al. https://doi.org/10.21979/N9/WISBHF

Model code and software

VolcCities Elinor S. Meredith et al. https://github.com/vharg/VolcCities

Interactive computing environment

Exposure of Cities to Volcanic Hazards Rui Xue Natalie Teng et al. https://vharg.github.io/shiny_VolcCitie s/

Short summary

Cities near volcanoes expose populations to hazards. We ranked 1106 cities by population exposed to volcanoes within < 100 km, nearest distance, and number of nearby volcanoes. Bandung ranks highest, with ~8 M exposed within < 30 km of 12 volcanoes. Jakarta leads populations exposed within <100 km (~38 M). Central America has the highest proportion of city exposure, with San Salvador near 23 volcanoes. We provide a global city exposure perspective, identifying areas for localized mitigation.