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How to escape from an erupting volcano

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Re: How to escape from an erupting volcano

#31

Post by musikele »

Markoff wrote: post #27
musikele wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know what kind of considerations drove the author to exclude east. We know that from Pompeii to Nuceria (now Nocera Inferiore) there was a road, but probably not well maintained. Consider that at the time this was probably, a huge forest. Nocera itself was only interested by the earthquakes and not by any pyroclastic event, nor gases. Here's an image of the eruption of the time: https://upload.wikimedia.org/w…

but it's closer than Neapolis and more logical for most people than going towards the volcano

I just received an answer from the professor that was interviewed in this article. His answer explains why going east is not advised. There was just another eruption that can be compared to the one of 79 BC, and happened around 2000 BC. During that event, the direction of the material was towards east, reaching the city of Avellino. Other (less intense) eruptions that have been studied all showed that winds generally go to east/east south east. 79BC is considered an unicum. To wrap up: - if you time-travel to 79BC you may survive going to Nuceria, but we don't have evidence of anyone survived through that path - the ones we know survived the event, went to Neaples - For future eruptions, go north or south, but avoid east - winds at 2-4000m are much different respect to what you feel at the ground

Re: How to escape from an erupting volcano

#32

Post by musikele »

arethuza wrote: post #25
musikele wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hi there, I live around 30 km from Pompeii and I'm in a "safe zone". I'm only expected to receive some ashes in case of eruption (if the eruption is like the one of 1600, that is more probable but less strong than the one of 79BC). After a few years after the eruption, nobody knew the exact location of Pompeii and Ercolanum, and also for quite some time these two areas were unhabitated and used only for farming. The…

Aren't there multiple volcanoes in that area? I thought the biggest risk at the moment was supposed to be the Phlegraean Fields rather than Vesuvius https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phlegraean_Fields

Vesuvius is the most problematic because in the past it showed a 25 years cycle between eruptions, but the eruption of ~1975 was missed (last was in 1944 and lava capped the eruptive canal). Anyway, this Vulcanic area is the most populated in the world and evacuating will be a mess.

Every time I hyke to the Vesuvius top, guides explain that there are other active vulcanos in the area; they are all considered active and may harm at any moment. The Phlegraean Fields are problematic because they generate a lot of bradyseism (and in some places the ground went underwater for about 10 meters!), but for now they are considered quiescent. Ischia island also is a volcano, that has erupted last time around 700 BC. Finally, there's an underwater volcano called Marsilii, that can generate a tsunami.

All these volcanos are stricly monitored.

Re: How to escape from an erupting volcano

#33

Post by Markoff »

Someone wrote: post #22
musikele wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know what kind of considerations drove the author to exclude east. We know that from Pompeii to Nuceria (now Nocera Inferiore) there was a road, but probably not well maintained. Consider that at the time this was probably, a huge forest. Nocera itself was only interested by the earthquakes and not by any pyroclastic event, nor gases. Here's an image of the eruption of the time: https://upload.wikimedia.org/w…

I don’t know whether it is true, but FTA: “Mountains block your path to the east“

no, they don't, if you look at the map which is what I did

as other psoter mentioned the road to Nuceria 12km away to east was existing at the time and you would be safe there

Re: How to escape from an erupting volcano

#34

Post by thrusong »

taneq wrote: post #14
dheera wrote: post #13

When I visited Pompei and Herculaneum my first thought is I couldn't help but to think how stupid humans are for rebuilding those towns in exactly the same place, and even closer to the volcano than the ancient destroyed towns. Farms, I get it -- fertile soil -- but why cities? Did people not learn from the historical records of their time, to draw lines around the boundaries of destruction and not build again within…

I feel a bit the same about other similar hazards. Cities built on flood plains that regularly get washed away. Cities built on volcanic hotspots with regular serious earthquakes. Cities, as you say, in the shadow of active volcanoes. But people always seem to think "it won't happen again."

I live in the Canadian city of Winnipeg which is built upon the intersection of two large rivers and their flood plains.

We have the Red River Floodway (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_River_Floodway) which has been quite successful, however, we're getting more floodwater every year and now we sometimes face severe flooding on the Assiniboine River.

This all used to be at the bottom of a giant lake and probably will go back to that at some point, but we've done a pretty good job at preventing billions in losses.

Re: How to escape from an erupting volcano

#36

Post by mannykannot »

musikele wrote: post #21
Markoff wrote: post #6

> So instead, you and the rest of the Pompeiians find yourselves 6 miles from the vent of Vesuvius with only two options: Run north, or run south. I dunno, I checked the map and you can run to east and then south without any mountains towards Cava de tireni and you will be further from Vesuvio than in Naples plus you can cross small hills and end up in Salerno with unlimited path further on coast.

I don't know what kind of considerations drove the author to exclude east. We know that from Pompeii to Nuceria (now Nocera Inferiore) there was a road, but probably not well maintained. Consider that at the time this was probably, a huge forest. Nocera itself was only interested by the earthquakes and not by any pyroclastic event, nor gases. Here's an image of the eruption of the time: https://upload.wikimedia.org/w…

This map suggests that Pompeii was well-connected by a major road to Salernum via Nuceria Alfaterna (Nocera), which is not surprising, given that Pompeii is between Salernum and Neapolis' metropolitan area on the north of the bay. The highest point on the pass is just 200m, at Cava Di' Tirreni, which is beyond Nuceria.

As Nuceria is closer, and on a flatter route, than even the death-trap of Herculaneum (2hr 40min vs. 3hr 10min, according to Google walking directions), let alone safety in Neapolis, this might well have been the last chance of escape.

http://www.naplesldm.com/romancampania.JPG

Re: How to escape from an erupting volcano

#37

Post by pwg »

autokad wrote: post #8

i had such a hard time reading this article. the text kept moving up and down because of the adds, I eventually hit control a and copied everythign to a notepad to read..... wow that was an awful experience.

NoScript blocking all of the javascript resulted in no ads, and no jumping text.

Re: How to escape from an erupting volcano

#38

Post by folli »

Markoff wrote: post #28
susam wrote: post #5

An interesting animation related to this topic: A Day in Pompeii - Full-length animation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dY_3ggKg0Bc

Judging by animation it would be quite obvious to leave at 1PM and you still have plenty of time until 5PM before things get really bad, heck in 2 hours you can get at least 12km away to Nocera inferiore, where you would be already pretty safe and in another hour to Cava de tirreni where you would be completely safe

I don't know if this is really as obvious as you suggest. If you grow up near a volcano (see for example modern day active volcanoes in Indonesia or Etna and Stromboli in Italy), you will be used to some degree of rumbling and smoke and ashes spewing. So this might be regarded as a normal occurrence. Until it's too late, of course.

Re: How to escape from an erupting volcano

#39

Post by arethuza »

musikele wrote: post #32
arethuza wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Aren't there multiple volcanoes in that area? I thought the biggest risk at the moment was supposed to be the Phlegraean Fields rather than Vesuvius https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phlegraean_Fields

Vesuvius is the most problematic because in the past it showed a 25 years cycle between eruptions, but the eruption of ~1975 was missed (last was in 1944 and lava capped the eruptive canal). Anyway, this Vulcanic area is the most populated in the world and evacuating will be a mess. Every time I hyke to the Vesuvius top, guides explain that there are other active vulcanos in the area; they are all considered active a…

A couple of years back I was on a flight from the UK to Sicily and it flew down the coast there and so much of what you can see looked volcanic - Ponza in particular.

Re: How to escape from an erupting volcano

#40

Post by lol2143651 »

PopeDotNinja wrote: post #20
taneq wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I feel a bit the same about other similar hazards. Cities built on flood plains that regularly get washed away. Cities built on volcanic hotspots with regular serious earthquakes. Cities, as you say, in the shadow of active volcanoes. But people always seem to think "it won't happen again."

The airport in Kona on Hawaii is built on a lava flow from Hualalai’s last major eruption about 200 years ago. Hualalai is still considered an active volcano, too. Maybe they’ve got a force field they haven’t told anyone about.

Hawaii's volcano is a shield volcano. It doesn't suddenly explode into a pyroclastic flow. You have very different concerns.
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