The volcano Monte Vesuvio, ital. Mount Vesuvius,
eng. - one of the most notorious and
deadly volcano on the earth - dominating high above the crowded Bay
of Napoli in Italy.
The summit raises today about 1,77 m.asl and the crater is more than
600 m wide.
On the slopes of the volcano grow wine, fruits and vegetables. Further
up the fauna is
dominated by oaks and walnut-trees.
Vesuvius is a volcano with a deadly past. In the year
79 CE all of the old roman city of
Pompeii was buried after a violent explosion killed all of its 20,000
inhabitants within seconds.
To day scientists and volcanologs wonder if the same is going to happen
to the three million
people livings in the shadow of this volcano.
February, 2004
Vesuvius suddenly smokes, Napoli area on full alert!
During the past few days smoke has began coming up from Vesuvius,
and the activity is closely watched.
The volcano is unpredictable.
It simply has to do with "What it has done before, it can do again".
The most dangerous if and when, is not the lavaflow, but on one side
the quakes following the
eruption and eventually tsunamis, and on the other side red hot
gas / nuèe ardent, which could
move down the slopes of the volcano at a speed of 500 miles/hour, burning
up everything in
its way.
That was exactly what happened long time ago, when all the 20,000 inhabitants
of the old
roman city of Pompeii were buried, on the foot of Mount Vesuvius.
At present people are not threatened, but if the volcano
goes wild, it will be some kind of a
problem to evacuate about 3 millions within short time. So that is why
Vesuvius is considered
the most dangerous volcano in the world, because this is the volcano
that can put most people
in danger.
The smoke might be a warning that a new eruption is
coming, or may be just a short wake-up.
(From
a report by the volcanolog Henning Andersen's web-pages)
October 13th, 1999
Latest:
At 7:42 the 9th of October 1999 Vesuvius was hit by a tremor
force 4, and that lasted
for 15 seconds. According to Osservatorio Vesuviano the quaike was 3.6
and situated
about 5,000 m below the summit. Also according to the observatorium
this was a
normal habit by Vesuvius. Anyway, this was the most intense and strong
seismic
tremor since the eruption of 1944. Thousand of people came out into
the streets,
and the schools were closed.
On Monday the 11.th Vesuvius hit again. At 04:35
with a new quake, but only at 2,9
(Richter's), then two more at 04.52, and then several smaller, all in
a depth of
5,000 m below the crater. Again this forced the public to seek into
the streets in
panic, and a lot of emotions were involved. (People here are in no doubt
what
happened 2.000 years ago). Professor Giuseppe Luongo at the University
of Napoli
asked that phase 1 of the alert and evacuation plan to be put out, but
scientists were untouched byt the inquiry, and the national TV-channel
(RAI) said it would be unpractical to practice evacuation-practice now.
Some people have accused responsible authorities
to hide to the public and the scientists, the real status of Vesuvius.
Those people have asked for seismological analyses and temperatures
collected by the Observatorium - to be given to neutral scientists for
valuation. ( La Repubblica, 12 Oktober, 1999)
Vesuvius
eruption - unknown time
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Linker:
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Vesuvioinrete.it,
all about Vesuv (english, italiano) |
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