Volcano Neighbours Refuse To Move

The Guardian (UK) ^ | 8-31-2003 | Sophie Arie

[blam]

Volcano neighbours refuse to move

Sophie Arie in San Sebastiano al Vesuvio
Sunday August 31, 2003
The Observer (UK)

Peering into the crater of Mount Vesuvius, all looks calm. There are signs of the volcano's last convulsions - piles of ash, strange twisted layers of solidified lava - but not the slightest rumble. There has not been one for years. As the locals say: 'He is sleeping. He won't trouble us.'

But experts are now warning that the slumbering mountain's next stirring could produce an even more devastating eruption than the one that buried the cities of Pompeii and Herculanaeum in AD79.

The local authorities have become so concerned to clear the area before it is too late that they are now offering cash to encourage people to leave. Even a modest spouting of burning rock and toxic gases could have catastrophic consequences these days, with more than a million people living in the 18 towns that have gradually crept up the volcano's black and rugged slopes.

The horror of Pompeii, a whole thriving Roman city suffocated in seconds, still grips the world's imagination. 'Many a calamity has happened in the world, but never one that has caused so much entertainment to posterity as this one,' the German poet Goethe wrote on a visit.

But neither the haunting figures of Pompeii's victims transfixed in their final moments nor the apocalyptic predictions of today's vulcanologists are enough to scare the local residents. 'I am not afraid,' said Antonio Battaglia, a walnut-faced 75-year-old astride a moped, who has lived all his life in San Sebastiano al Vesuvio, in the shadow of the volcano.

'My apricot trees were buried up there by the lava last time,' he said of Vesuvius's most recent major eruption, which killed 26 in 1944, six months after the Allies landed in Italy. 'But I belong to this hill. Life is beautiful here.' Gazing down at the Bay of Naples, shimmering in the summer haze, he added: 'I wouldn't leave even if you paid me.'

Retired sailor Vincenzo Berna, 68, in the nearby town of Torre Del Greco, said: 'I was born here and I plan to die here. I hope Vesuvius doesn't kill me but if he does, that's my lot.'

All around the slopes of Vesuvius, local people, particularly the elderly, say that they have found a 'peaceful cohabitation' with the looming threat above them. They scoff at the idea that they should move before disaster strikes and have no intention of abandoning the vines and peach trees that thrive in the southern Italian sun.

Campania regional authorities are holding out a €25,000 carrot to every family that packs its bags. Marco di Lello, running the campaign, hopes that the incentive will entice 100,000 families out of the volcano's 'red zone' in the next 15 years. 'We may be living with a time bomb, but you will see, nobody will leave,' said Pina Altieri, director of the Park Hotel Vesuvio, perched on a jumble of rocks 700m below the crater.

For over a decade, an evacuation plan has been in place to transport 600,000 people to other regions as soon as experts detect an imminent eruption. They expect to have at least two weeks' warning.

'The local people are as fiery as this mountain,' said Altieri. 'They do a lot of shouting. Vesuvius would become ominously quiet if we could not hear them any more.'

[blam]

Signs Of An Eruption

[agitator]

ping

[ChemistCat]

I don't really marvel at this. I understand it. If you're old and set in your ways, you don't move. We can't get my MIL to budge from California, no matter how bad things get for her there. The tax rate could hit 100% and she'd stay to starve.

[You Dirty Rats]

I remember people who refused to leave the vicinity of Mount St. Helens. They never had a chance when it erupted.

[4mycountry]

>>>As the locals say: 'He is sleeping. He won't trouble us.'

~Lullabye..and goodnight...go to sleep li'l volcano...~

>>>'My apricot trees were buried up there by the lava last time,'

Lava fried apricots...mmmm-mmmm good. ;P