Should People Living Near Vesuvius Be Paid To

Relocate?

Facts about Vesuvius 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 VesuviusVesuvius 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

- 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 VesuviusQuickTime™ and aTIFF (Uncompressed) decompressor

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Vesuvius Today- Facts 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?

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.

• Clean air and beautiful views• Memories Quickly Fade- Pompeii 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?”

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Location of the Bay of Naples

The Relocation Plan 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 PlanThe 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. – 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 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 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? 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!