Katia and Maurice Krafft
Encyclopedia
Katia Krafft is a city and commune in eastern France, close to the Swiss and German borders. With a population of 110,514 and 278,206 inhabitants in the metropolitan area in 2006, it is the largest city in the Haut-Rhin département, and the second largest in the Alsace region after...
, 17 April 1942 – 3 June 1991) and her husband, Maurice Krafft (Guebwiller
Guebwiller
Guebwiller is a commune in the Haut-Rhin department in Alsace in north-eastern France.It is situated northwest of Mulhouse at the foot of the Vosges mountains...
, 25 March 1946 – 3 June 1991) were French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
volcanologists
Volcanology
Volcanology is the study of volcanoes, lava, magma, and related geological, geophysical and geochemical phenomena. The term volcanology is derived from the Latin word vulcan. Vulcan was the ancient Roman god of fire....
who died in a pyroclastic flow
Pyroclastic flow
A pyroclastic flow is a fast-moving current of superheated gas and rock , which reaches speeds moving away from a volcano of up to 700 km/h . The flows normally hug the ground and travel downhill, or spread laterally under gravity...
on Mount Unzen
Mount Unzen
is an active volcanic group of several overlapping stratovolcanoes, near the city of Shimabara, Nagasaki Prefecture, on the island of Kyūshū, Japan’s southernmost main island....
, in Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
, on June 3, 1991. The Kraffts were known for being pioneers in filming, photographing and recording volcanoes, often getting within feet of lava flows. Their obituary appeared in the Bulletin of Volcanology, (vol. 54, pp 613–614).
Early days
Katia and Maurice met at the University of StrasbourgUniversity of Strasbourg
The University of Strasbourg in Strasbourg, Alsace, France, is the largest university in France, with about 43,000 students and over 4,000 researchers....
, and their career as volcano observers began soon after. With little money, they saved up for a trip to Stromboli
Stromboli
Stromboli is a small island in the Tyrrhenian Sea, off the north coast of Sicily, containing one of the three active volcanoes in Italy. It is one of the eight Aeolian Islands, a volcanic arc north of Sicily. This name is a corruption of the Ancient Greek name Strongulē which was given to it...
and photographed the eruption. Finding that people were interested in this documentation of eruptions, they soon made a career out of this, which afforded them the ability to travel the globe.
As professional volcanologists
The Kraffts were often the first to arrive at an active volcano, and were respected and envied by many volcanologistVolcanologist
A volcanologist is a person who studies the formation of volcanoes, and their current and historic eruptions. Volcanologists frequently visit volcanoes, especially active ones, to observe volcanic eruptions, collect eruptive products including tephra , rock and lava samples...
s. Their footage of the effects of volcanic eruptions was a considerable factor in gaining the cooperation of local authorities faced with volcanic threats. One notable example of this was after the onset of activity at Mount Pinatubo
Mount Pinatubo
Mount Pinatubo is an active stratovolcano located on the island of Luzon, near the tripoint of the Philippine provinces of Zambales, Tarlac, and Pampanga. It is located in the Tri-Cabusilan Mountain range separating the west coast of Luzon from the central plains, and is west of the dormant and...
in 1991, where their video of the effects of the eruption of Nevado del Ruiz
Nevado del Ruiz
The Nevado del Ruiz, also known as La Mesa de Herveo or Kumanday in the language of the local pre-Columbian indigenous people, is a volcano located on the border of the departments of Caldas and Tolima in Colombia, about west of the capital city Bogotá. It is a stratovolcano, composed of many...
in Colombia
Colombia
Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia , is a unitary constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments. The country is located in northwestern South America, bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the...
was shown to large numbers of people, including Philippine President Cory Aquino
Corazon Aquino
Maria Corazon Sumulong Cojuangco-Aquino was the 11th President of the Philippines and the first woman to hold that office in Philippine history. She is best remembered for leading the 1986 People Power Revolution, which toppled Ferdinand Marcos and restored democracy in the Philippines...
, and convinced many skeptics that evacuation of the area would be necessary.
The Mount Unzen eruption
In June 1991, while filming eruptions at Mount UnzenMount Unzen
is an active volcanic group of several overlapping stratovolcanoes, near the city of Shimabara, Nagasaki Prefecture, on the island of Kyūshū, Japan’s southernmost main island....
, they were caught in a pyroclastic flow
Pyroclastic flow
A pyroclastic flow is a fast-moving current of superheated gas and rock , which reaches speeds moving away from a volcano of up to 700 km/h . The flows normally hug the ground and travel downhill, or spread laterally under gravity...
which unexpectedly swept out of a channel other flows had been following and onto the ridge they were standing on. They were killed instantly, along with 41 people including Professor Harry Glicken
Harry Glicken
Harry Glicken was a volcanologist who was killed on 3 June 1991 by a pyroclastic flow on Mount Unzen in Japan. Also killed were forty-two other scientists and journalists, including volcanologists Katia and Maurice Krafft....
, several firemen and journalists also covering the eruptions.
The work of the Kraffts was highlighted in a video issue of National Geographic, which contained a large amount of their film footage and photographs as well as interviews with both.
Maurice is famous for saying in the video that "I am never afraid because I have seen so much eruptions in 23 years that even if I die tomorrow, I don't care", coincidentally on the day before his and his wife's death at Mt. Unzen.
Books
- Maurice Krafft :
- Guide des volcans d’Europe : généralités, France, Islande, Italie, Grèce, Allemagne..., Neuchâtel, Delachaux et Niestlé, 1974, 412 p.
- Questions à un vulcanologue : Maurice Krafft répond, Paris, Hachette-Jeunesse, 1981, 231 p.
- Les Volcans et leurs secrets, Nathan, Paris, 1984, 63 p.
- Le Monde merveilleux des volcans , Paris, Hachette-Jeunesse, 1981, 58 p.
- Les Feux de la Terre, Histoire de volcans, Paris, Découvertes Gallimard, - 208 p.
- Maurice and Katia Krafft :
- À l’assaut des volcans, Islande, Indonésie, Paris, Presses de la Cité, 1975, 112 p.
- Preface by Eugène IonescoEugène IonescoEugène Ionesco was a Romanian and French playwright and dramatist, and one of the foremost playwrights of the Theatre of the Absurd...
, Les Volcans, Paris, Draeger-Vilo, 1975, 174 p. - La Fournaise, volcan actif de l’île de la Réunion, Saint-Denis, Éditions Roland Benard, 1977, 121 p.
- Volcans, le réveil de la Terre, Paris, Hachette-Réalités, 1979, 158 p.
- Dans l’antre du Diable : volcans d’Afrique, Canaries et Réunion, Paris, Presses de la Cité, 1981, 124 p.
- Volcans et tremblements de terre, Paris, Les Deux Coqs d’Or, 1982, 78 p.
- Volcans et dérives des continents, Paris, Hachette, 1984, 157 p.
- Les plus beaux volcans, d’Alaska en Antarctique et Hawaï, Paris, Solar, 1985, 88 p.
- Volcans et éruptions, Paris, Hachette-Jeunesse, 1985, 90 p.
- Les Volcans du monde, Vevey-Lausanne, Éditions Mondo, 1986, 152 p.
- Objectif volcans, Paris, Nathan Image, 1986, 154 p.
- Führer zu den Virunga Vulkanen, Stuttgart, F. Enke, 1990, 187.
- Maurice Krafft and Roland Benard :
- Au cœur de la Fournaise, Orléans, Éditions Nourault-Bénard, 1986, 220 p.
- Maurice Krafft, Katia Krafft et François-Dominique de Larouzière :
- Guide des volcans d'Europe et des Canaries, Neuchätel : Delachaux et Niestlé, 1991, 455 p.