Should People Living Near
Vesuvius Be Paid To
Relocate?
Facts about Vesuvius
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The Mediterranean has always been geologically active.
Vesuvius is above a subduction zone. The African plate is moving
northward at about 2-3 cm per year and is slowly closing the
Mediterranean basin. As it moves to the north, the African plate is
pushed beneath the Eurasian plate.
– Cascade Range
– Campi Flegrei - entrance to the Underworld
The oldest dated rock from the volcano is about 300,000 years old.
The rocks at Vesuvius are called tephrite.
Vesuvius is a composite volcano, made up of alternate layers of lava
and ash. Composite volcanoes normally have two different kinds of
eruptions. One kind produces mostly ashes and cinders. The other
kind produces lava.
– 79 BCE - Ashes and cinders
– 1944 CE - Lava
History of Vesuvius
Vesuvius has had at least 200 powerful eruptions in the past 2,000 years.
Here are the highlights:
- 900 BCE- Evidence of a tremendous eruption with dust and ash falling
towards the east
- 320 BCE- Vesuvius erupts. Before this, the mountain may have spanned
2,745 meters in height. During the next four centuries, the volcano lies
dormant. It becomes covered in forest.
- February 5, 62 CE- A severe earthquake rocks the region. This is a
warning of the explosion to come. A flock of 600 sheep are swallowed
up. Altitude: 1,830 meters.
- 79 BCE- Vesuvius explodes and destroys surrounding towns. The top
700 meters of the volcano collapse into a huge crater.
- 1631- Earthquakes and the drying up of springs proceed a huge
explosion that enlarges the crater from 1.6 km across to 4.8 km (3
miles).
- 1944 - Vesuvius erupts during World War II. Lava flow is produced.
- 1980 - An earthquake strikes, damaging Pompeii.
- Height today: 1,281 meters
Eruption of Vesuvius- 79 BCE
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Extensive destruction all over the Campania. Cities of Pompeii,
Herculaneum, Oplontis, and Stabiae are engulfed.
Eruption followed a long quiet period. Inhabitants were surprised.
Phase 1- widespread dispersal of pumices from a high eruptive column
- In Pompeii, major causalities resulted from roof collapses
Phase 2- Pyroclastic flows that resulted in the majority of deaths
- In Pompeii, major causalities resulted from suffocation
- Herculaneum was buried under 75 feet of liquid mud and ashes
Archaeological Impact of
Vesuvius
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Vesuvius Today- Facts
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Vesuvius’ last eruption occurred in 1944. Since then there has been
an earthquake that damaged Pompeii in 1980.
Experts believe that Vesuvius’ next eruption will be the greatest since
1613. That eruption was on the scale of the eruption that destroyed
Pompeii.
Vesuvius is currently being monitored by seismic measuring devices
which are positioned around the mountain. Two sensors have been
lowered into the mountain to record seismic shifts. The Vesuvius
Observatory has also been supplied with European Space Agency
Satellite feeds that offer real time recordings of the up or down
movements of the earth.
Since 1944, Naples has been the center of large scale construction.
Much of it is unplanned and illegal.
Population of city- 1 million
Population estimated to be affected by a large scale eruption 3 million
Population densities in areas likely to be affected- 20,000 to 30,000
people per square kilometer. Chicago- 4,900 per square kilometer
Result: Many more people will be affected by an eruption now than
in 79 CE
Vesuvius Today
Why do People Return?
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600,000 people live here today, ignoring 1944 and 79 CE
Soil- Volcanic soil is rich in minerals. Farmers have always been
attracted to its potential. Tomatoes, Olives, Lemones, vines - Lacrima
Christi…
Fishing industry
Harbor- The Bay of Naples is a wonderful natural harbor. It is one of
Italy’s three main harbors.
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• Clean air and beautiful views
• Memories Quickly FadePompeii was “lost” until 1763
after extensive excavation and
identification.
• Replacing fear with
indifference. “There are grave benefits
to living under Vesuvius. You smoke as
much as you want, drink as much as you
want, why not?”
Location of the Bay of Naples
The Relocation Plan
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Civil authorities are attempting to convince residents of the 19 closest
towns to Vesuvius to relocate.
The plan, initiated in 2003, was intended to reduce the population of
the zona rossa or the dangerous red zone by 20%.
30,000 euro to families to relocate out of the danger zone
– About 2,500 people have applied
Also a fund of 10 million euros for families to turn their houses into
small tourist hostles
Problems: 30,000 euro is not a lot for large families, people do not
want to leave their homes while there is no tangible proof that they
should, economic opportunities in Naples (Campagnia 18% of Italy’s
GNP), difficulties finding places to relocate people
The Evacuation Plan
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The Emergency Evacuation Plan for Vesuvius, promoted by the Italian
volcanologists in 1995, assumes that an eruption of Vesuvius will be predicted at
least 2 weeks before an eruption. Even with all the new monitoring technology,
it is a gamble that millions of lives rest upon. It also supposes that 700,000
people can be calmly evacuated from the area to different places all over Italy in
a rapid period of time. Neapolitans are known for being un-calm and disorderly.
Does not take into account exit strategies, the functioning of transportation and
communication systems during a crisis or the effects of the earthquakes which
could produce collapsed structures which block the evacuation routes.
Administrators have refused to discuss the plan in detail during scientific and
public meetings. As of today, the public would not know what to do in the
advent of an emergency alarm.
The Plan’s proponents (volcanologists from Italian National Volcanic Group
(GNV), Osservatorio Vesuviano, Protezione Civile) have refused to respond in
public to the charges that the Plan is unreliable from scientific, social, cultural,
economic, and political points of view.
Evacuation drills have resulted in chaos.
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o Typically only a few hundred citizens have taken part
o They board buses where they are given wine and cake for the trips to Italian
hinterlands
o A few evacuations were interrupted by herds of sheep crossing roads
Quotes
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Professor G. Luongo, Department of Geophysics and Vulcanology on
the Civil Protection Emergency Act (The Evacuation Plan):
– Is the Civil Protection capable of confronting an eventual
evacuation in the Vesuvius area?No. One cannot manage
600,000 people with the nonexistent preparation and without the
knowledge of the plan nine months after its existence.
– But is the plan a secret?It's held hidden. Nobody knows of it.
– Why?Because it is too stupid…How? In the sense that it does
not have valid technical and quantitative elements. The
institutions do not respect their roles and the interests of the
citizens. This is a grave fact. The civil protection managers need
to expose the data and not their interpretation.
More Quotes
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Director of Osservatorio Vesuviano, L. Civetta, on the
Civil Protection: This is a problem beyond my
competence.
Mayor of San Sebastiano al Vesuvio: I will not challenge
the rigor of the analysis of the scientific assumptions on
which the Emergency Plan is based and leave this dispute
to the volcanologists. I will, however, dispute the
adopted method of communicating the plan to 600,000
citizens to inform them of their security and
future.The plan should have been presented to the mass
media only after its details have been fully exposed and
defined for the citizens, because in the case of an eruption
the exodus will need to be controlled by the police and
volunteers.
What Should Be Done?
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New relocation strategy focusing on renters who have less economic
incentives to stay.
Urban planning which takes into account the earthquakes which will
come before an eruption
Assign more Carabinieri to protect the local government
administration that has been systematically banning and removing
illegal buildings on the slopes of Vesuvius. Hopefully, if not too
corrupt, they will become more effective.
– “It can be very dangerous, they all hate us.” A. Troiano,
President of the National Park del Monte Vesuvio
Develop a comprehensive evacuation strategy that should be based
upon educating the area’s population. People should know and be
comfortable with
– The realities of living on the slopes of a volcano. Fight
indifference.
– Each individual citizen should know what to do and where to go
in the advent of another volcanic eruption.
Visit Vesuvius!
 Visit Pompeii!
 Visit Herculaneum!!!
 Visit Campania!
 Go see the exibit at the
Field Museum!
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Me!