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How can you live under a volcanoes erupting lava and have the best experience ever seen?
What do you think about weaking up all morning seeing the power of three atomic bomb in front of you? Yes is it so, i live a under a volcanoes erupting lava every day. The mount etna volcano. My objective is to give you some information on volcanoes so you can not scare of but you can enjoy too much.
I am my job of geology i saw a lot of thing about science and volcanism, i lived under the hazards of an erupting volcano every day and my loce for it is alway too much.
I want to tell you a story: Since the dawn of humanity, Sicily great volcano has inspired the culture and religion of all people who have lived in its shadow. It has given one of the most fertile areas to the Mediterranean, but with its frequent eruptions it has often threatened human settlements, buried cultivated areas, and destroyed homes. The relationship of the people to their mountain is understandably complex. Here some aspects of human life and activity on the slopes of an unusually active and large volcano will be discussed, such as the feelings the people in eastern Sicily have for "a' muntagna" (the mountain), a chronology of Etna's fiery assaults on inhabited and cultivated areas, and attempts to protect inhabited areas from invasion by lava flows. SCASSAU A MUNTAGNA! Every few years, these words cried by the inhabitants of the villages on the slopes of Etna, signalled the initiation of a new eruption that apparently threatened their homes and land. Apart from being a fine example of Sicilian dialect (the rough translation is "the mountain has broken"), this expression reflects one of the rare instants in the life of a Sicilian living on the flanks of the volcano when the usual indifference changes abruptly into excitement and apprehension.
The chance, in a lifetime of a person living near Etna, to see her or his home invaded by lava is very low. Although everybody here has seen the volcano erupt many times, the normal rhythm of life is rarely affected by these activities, and the most serious encounter with the volcano is commonly limited to a fall of ash or small scoriae.
Contrary to common belief outside the Etna region, life close to the volcano is essentially peaceful and pleasant, for the area enjoys a particularly favorable climate, extremely fertile soils, and a spectacular scenery. Catania, the largest city near the mountain, is vigorously recovering from years of mafia-related violence and decadence, and its most acute problems are of social rather than volcanic origin.
Since Millennia Man is attracted by Etna, and at the same time the news of its activity has the taste of a remote, mysterious terror, especially to those living far from Sicily. Even though many people, among them a good proportion of the visitors to this site, have only vague ideas about the location of the volcano relative to towns and other places in and around Sicily, there is a remarkable worldwide interest in the volcano.
What is it that makes Etna the subject of such intense interest? Why are there so many people living on this volcano? And how true are the notions of frequent disasters caused by its eruptions, and of the threat of future eruptions?
I describe here the way in which human life is influenced by, and interacts with, the presence and volcanic activity of Etna, how the local population feels about the mountain, and why Etna enjoys such a great fame all over the globe. This will to some degree be interwoven with my own experience in the past 15 years, assembled during many visits to the area, and - since early 1997 - during my residence in Catania.
This sections includes a detailed analysis of true and alleged cases of human deaths caused by eruptions of Etna throughout history and of the amount of damage and destruction caused by eruptions since 1600.
Many readers will be surprised how much of the fame of Etna as a killer volcano greedy of devouring villages and cities is remote from the truth. Yet the last part of this section (about volcanic hazards) demonstrates that in spite of its relatively benign behavior in recent centuries, Etna is a volcano capable of really evil things of cataclysmic dimensions, the worst of which, however, occur extremely rarely and are unlikely to be experienced by anyone living on the slopes of the mountain today.
About the Author: Enrico Forte is an expert on volcanology he his the owner of mount etna volcano information on volcanoes web site. To see much more informations and facts about etna and active volcanoes pics and webcams For a free photo e-book mt etna volcano pics
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