Katia and Maurice Krafft

Katia and Maurice Krafft
Katia and Maurice Krafft
Born	April 17, 1942 (Katia), March 25, 1946 (Maurice)
Died	June 3, 1991(1991-06-03) (aged 49) (Katia) June 3, 1991(1991-06-03) (aged 45) (Maurice) Mount Unzen, Japan
Cause of death	Killed by the 1991 eruption of Mt. Unzen
Nationality	French

Katia Krafft (née Catherine Joséphine Conrad, Mulhouse, 17 April 1942 – 3 June 1991) and her husband, Maurice Paul Krafft (Guebwiller, 25 March 1946 – 3 June 1991), were French volcanologists who died in a pyroclastic flow on Mount Unzen, in Japan, 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).

Katia Conrad and Maurice Krafft met at the University of Strasbourg, and their career as volcano observers began soon after. With little money, they saved up for a trip to Stromboli and photographed its near-continuous 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. They were married in 1970.

The Kraftts were often the first to be at an active volcano, and were respected and envied by many volcanologists. 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 in 1991, where their video of the effects of the eruption of Nevado del Ruiz in Colombia was shown to large numbers of people, including Philippine President Cory Aquino, and convinced many skeptics that evacuation of the area would be necessary.

In June 1991, while filming eruptions at Mount Unzen (Japan), they were caught in a pyroclastic flow which unexpectedly swept out of the channel that previous smaller flows had been following and onto the ridge they were standing on. They were killed instantly along with 41 people, including fellow volcanologist Harry Glicken, several firemen, and journalists also covering the eruptions.