On 28 March 1982, El Chichon, a volcanic peak located in southern Mexico, began an eruptive phase of activity. Four major eruptions occurred within the next eight days, culminating in a cataclysmic eruption on 4 April. When the dust had settled, an estimated 200 million tons of ash blanketed more than 200 square kilometers of southern Mexico and neighboring Central American countries. Forty thousand villagers were left homeless and several thousand people may have lost their lives. Fifty thousand head of cattle were destroyed outright with many more succumbing to lack of water and pasture. Millions of hectares of crops were destroyed (Figure 1).
