Volcanoes can kill thousands. We should pay closer attention to the moving earth beneath us

From 1500 to 2017, volcanoes have taken more than 200,000 lives, and yet most were not due to lava, a study determined last year. The updated volcanic fatality database, published in the Journal of Applied Volcanology, blames three other deadly forces: pyroclastic density currents; lahars; and particles. These hazards are more common in composite or stratovolcanoes, types with stickier and older lava sitting in magma chambers, waiting to explode. One such volcano featured recently in the news, too: Fuego in Guatemala.