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A Most Interesting Mountain I have always been fascinated by the story of the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in 79 A.D. and the complete and instantaneous destruction of the cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum. It was a catastrophe that boggles the mind. The eruption lasted for 24 hours and is estimated that it had the power of 100,000 atomic bombs. I can’t help but wonder what it must have been like for people on that day. The two cities were not only buried but preserved as they were that day under ash for 1,600 years. When the cities were excavated, archaeologists found homes as they were on the day of eruption. Everything was preserved as a time capsule. Beautiful murals and mosaics decorating homes, furniture, jewelry and even preserved food was found. Then there are the haunting images of the plaster casts of people and animals where they fell. Mt. Vesuvius has a long and explosive history of erupting and is considered to be the most dangerous volcano on the European mainland. There are approximately 3,000,000 people that live within range of the area of the Mt. with 600,000 living in the “red zone” at the foot of the Mt. The last eruption was March 18, 1944 and seismologists say that the Mt. is overdue and it is only a question of when there will be another eruption. So, I have to wonder why with such a long well documented history of very destructive and explosive eruptions of this volcano people would choose to live in the “red zone.” What do you think? 
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Interesting! I too have always been fascinated with Mt. Vesuvius.
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6/16/2013 7:01 pm |
I can not wait to learn more about south east Japaneses cities underwater and western cites in the Indian coast
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6/16/2013 9:35 pm |
Probably no different than those of us who live in active earthquake areas, areas prone to tornadoes, hurricanes and other disasters. Spiritwoman ^i^
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I seem to recall reading in Roman literature, Pliny's (the younger?) account of the catastrophe as he observed from his veranda across a large water expanse, and described efforts to rescue people in harm's way. You may have already read it. But if not, I bet you'd find it interesting! GBU, Gavin
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