Vesuvius red zone

Last updated
Mount Vesuvius lies in a highly populated area. Vesuvio da Lettere.jpg
Mount Vesuvius lies in a highly populated area.

The Vesuvius red zone (Italian : zona rossa del Vesuvio) is the area designated to be quickly evacuated within a few days in the case of an eruption of Mount Vesuvius. [1] The authorities believe that they will have two weeks' warning of an imminent eruption; the questions that arise are whether the population can be evacuated in time, despite a reluctance to leave their homes; and if there be as much as two weeks' warning in reality. [2]

Contents

As the area around Mount Vesuvius is highly urbanized, it became necessary to develop evacuation plans to be applied when the signs of a forthcoming eruption appear. [3] A danger zone around the volcano was first identified in 2001 by the Italian Protezione Civile ; its boundaries were then redefined in 2013 following new studies on the behaviour of Plinian eruptions. [4]

The zone is composed by two subzones, called red zone 1 and 2. The former is the most dangerous area in the case of an eruption, being at greatest risk from pyroclastic flows. The red zone 2 will be subjected to falling ash and lapilli, whose intensity will depend on the intensity and direction of the winds at the time. [5]

Mount Vesuvius is continuously kept under surveillance by the Vesuvius Observatory of the National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology. When an appointed set of geologic activities occurs, an eruption warning is issued and the evacuation procedure begins. [6] It has been estimated that 72 hours are needed to complete the evacuation: 12 hours to organize it, 48 hours to transfer all the people outside the red zone and 12 hours are kept as a safety margin for unexpected events. [7]

List of comunes involved

The red zone comprises 25 comunes and part of the city of Naples, with about 800,000 residents to be evacuated. [5]

In the case of an eruption, the evacuated people will be transferred to and hosted in 19 Italian regions (Campania being excluded), according to their comune of origin. [8]

List of comunes to be evacuated [5]
ComunePopulation [9] Surface (km2)Hosting region
Boscoreale 2792711.28 Calabria
Boscotrecase 102477 Basilicata
Cercola 180073 Liguria
Ercolano 5276319.64 Emilia-Romagna
Massa di Somma 53533.03 Molise
Naples (6th municipality only)13864119.28 Lazio
Nola 3446739 Aosta Valley
Ottaviano 2371019.85 Lazio
Palma Campania 1821820.8 Friuli Venezia Giulia
Poggiomarino 2199313.28 Marche
Pollena Trocchia 134788.11 Trentino-Alto Adige
Pompei 2520712.4 Sardinia
Portici 545774.52 Piedmont
San Gennaro Vesuviano 119106.97 Umbria
San Giorgio a Cremano 451224.11 Tuscany
San Giuseppe Vesuviano 3161214 Veneto
San Sebastiano al Vesuvio 90572 Apulia
Sant'Anastasia 2769018.76 Veneto
Scafati 5068619.69 Sicily
Somma Vesuviana 3498130.74 Lombardy
Terzigno 1858423 Abruzzo
Torre Annunziata 424067.33 Apulia
Torre del Greco 8533230.66 Lombardy
Trecase 89696.14 Sicily

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Volcano</span> Rupture in the crust of a planet that allows lava, ash, and gases to escape from below the surface

A volcano is a rupture in the crust of a planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mount Vesuvius</span> Active stratovolcano in the Gulf of Naples, Italy

Mount Vesuvius is a somma-stratovolcano located on the Gulf of Naples in Campania, Italy, about 9 km (5.6 mi) east of Naples and a short distance from the shore. It is one of several volcanoes forming the Campanian volcanic arc. Vesuvius consists of a large cone partially encircled by the steep rim of a summit caldera, resulting from the collapse of an earlier, much higher structure.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mayon</span> Stratovolcano in the Philippines

Mayon, also known as Mount Mayon and Mayon Volcano, is an active stratovolcano in the province of Albay in Bicol, Philippines. A popular tourist spot, it is renowned for its "perfect cone" because of its symmetric conical shape, and is regarded as sacred in Philippine mythology.

A volcano observatory is an institution that conducts research and monitoring of a volcano.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Volcanism of Italy</span> Volcanic activity in Italy

The volcanism of Italy is due chiefly to the presence, a short distance to the south, of the boundary between the Eurasian Plate and the African Plate. Italy is a volcanically active country, containing the only active volcanoes in mainland Europe. The lava erupted by Italy's volcanoes is thought to result from the subduction and melting of one plate below another.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mount Unzen</span> Group of volcanoes in Nagasaki Prefecture, Japan

Mount Unzen is an active volcanic group of several overlapping stratovolcanoes, near the city of Shimabara, Nagasaki on the island of Kyushu, Japan's southernmost main island.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Phlegraean Fields</span> Supervolcano located west of Naples, Italy

The Phlegraean Fields is a large region of supervolcanic calderas situated to the west of Naples, Italy. It was declared a regional park in 2003.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mount Merapi</span> Active stratovolcano in Central Java, Indonesia

Mount Merapi, is an active stratovolcano located on the border between the province of Central Java and the Special Region of Yogyakarta, Indonesia. It is the most active volcano in Indonesia and has erupted regularly since 1548. It is located approximately 28 km (17 mi) north of Yogyakarta city which has a population of 2.4 million, and thousands of people live on the flanks of the volcano, with villages as high as 1,700 m (5,577 ft) above sea level.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mount Agung</span> Active volcano in Bali, Indonesia

Mount Agung is an active volcano in Bali, Indonesia, southeast of Mount Batur volcano, also in Bali. It is the highest point on Bali, and dominates the surrounding area, influencing the climate, especially rainfall patterns. From a distance, the mountain appears to be perfectly conical. From the peak of the mountain, it is possible to see the peak of Mount Rinjani on the nearby island of Lombok, to the east, although both mountains are frequently covered in clouds. Agung is a stratovolcano, with a large and deep crater. Its most recent eruptions occurred from 2017–2019.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">La Soufrière (Saint Vincent)</span> Active stratovolcano on the Caribbean island Saint Vincent

La Soufrière or Soufrière Saint Vincent is an active volcano on the Caribbean island of Saint Vincent in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. It is the highest peak in Saint Vincent, and has had eight recorded eruptions since 1718. The latest eruptive activity began on 27 December 2020 with the slow extrusion of a dome of lava, and culminated in a series of explosive events between 9 and 22 April 2021.

The Decade Volcanoes are 16 volcanoes identified by the International Association of Volcanology and Chemistry of the Earth's Interior (IAVCEI) as being worthy of particular study in light of their history of large, destructive eruptions and proximity to densely populated areas. The Decade Volcanoes project encourages studies and public-awareness activities at these volcanoes, with the aim of achieving a better understanding of the volcanoes and the dangers they present, and thus being able to reduce the severity of natural disasters.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Armero tragedy</span> December 1985 volcanic eruption in Colombia

The Armero tragedy occurred following the eruption of the Nevado del Ruiz stratovolcano in Tolima, Colombia, on November 13, 1985. The volcano's eruption after 69 years of dormancy caught nearby towns unaware, even though volcanological organizations had warned the government to evacuate the area after they detected volcanic activity two months earlier.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council</span> Philippine government agency responsible for

The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC), formerly known as the National Disaster Coordinating Council (NDCC) until August 2011, is a working group of various government, non-government, civil sector and private sector organizations of the Government of the Republic of the Philippines established on June 11, 1978 by Presidential Decree 1566. It is administered by the Office of Civil Defense (OCD) under the Department of National Defense (DND). The council is responsible for ensuring the protection and welfare of the people during disasters or emergencies. The NDRRMC plans and leads the guiding activities in the field of communication, warning signals, emergency, transportation, evacuation, rescue, engineering, health and rehabilitation, public education and auxiliary services such as fire fighting and the police in the country. The Council utilizes the UN Cluster Approach in disaster management. It is the country's focal for the ASEAN Agreement on Disaster Management and Emergency Response (AADMER) and many other related international commitments.

The Mount Rainier Volcano Lahar Warning System consists of two separate components, operating in tandem: Acoustic Flow Monitors (AFM) and the All Hazard Alert Broadcast (AHAB) sirens. The AFM system was developed by the United States Geological Survey (USGS) in 1998 and is now maintained by Pierce County Emergency Management. The purpose of the warning system is to assist in the evacuation of residents in the river valleys around Mount Rainier, a volcano in Washington, in the event of a lahar. Pierce County works in partnership with the USGS, the Pacific Northwest Seismic Network (PNSN), Washington Military Department's Emergency Management Division, and South Sound 9-1-1 to monitor and operate the system.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1991 eruption of Mount Pinatubo</span> Volcanic eruption in the Philippines

The 1991 eruption of Mount Pinatubo in the Philippines' Luzon Volcanic Arc was the second-largest volcanic eruption of the 20th century, behind only the 1912 eruption of Novarupta in Alaska. Eruptive activity began on April 2 as a series of phreatic explosions from a fissure that opened on the north side of Mount Pinatubo. Seismographs were set up and began monitoring the volcano for earthquakes. In late May, the number of seismic events under the volcano fluctuated from day-to-day. Beginning June 6, a swarm of progressively shallower earthquakes accompanied by inflationary tilt on the upper east flank of the mountain, culminated in the extrusion of a small lava dome.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Protezione Civile</span> Italian civil protection department

The Protezione Civile, officially Dipartimento della Protezione Civile, is the national body in Italy that deals with the prediction, prevention and management of emergency events. It was established in 1992 by legge 24 febbraio 1992, n. 225, which was updated in 2012, and it is supervised by the office of the Prime Minister. The duties of the Protezione Civile are to predict, prevent and manage at national level disasters and catastrophes, both natural and human-made. The main goal is to protect the sake of life, the properties, the settlements and the environment from damage and dangers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2010 eruptions of Mount Merapi</span> Volcanic eruption of Mount Merapi in Indonesia

In late October 2010, Mount Merapi in border of Central Java and Special Region of Yogyakarta, Indonesia began an increasingly violent series of eruptions that continued into November. Seismic activity around the volcano increased from mid-September onwards, culminating in repeated outbursts of lava and volcanic ash. Large eruption columns formed, causing numerous pyroclastic flows down the heavily populated slopes of the volcano. The 2010 eruption of Merapi was the volcano's largest since 1872.

The Bridge for Kids is a proposed bridge across the Carbon River in Orting, Washington, about a mile upstream of where it joins the Puyallup River. It would provide an emergency evacuation route for school children to escape a future lahar flow from Mount Rainier, consisting of an up to 10-meter (33 ft) high flood of mud, rock and boulders. As of 2016, the $40 million bridge was still in the planning phase.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Natural hazards in Italy</span>

According to The World Factbook, the main natural phenomena posing a threat in Italy at a regional level are landslides, mudflows, avalanches, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, floods and, in Venice, subsidence.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Phlegraean Fields red zone</span>

The Phlegraean Fields red zone is the area at greatest volcanic risk in the Phlegraean Fields, in Italy.

References

  1. "What if Mount Vesuvius Erupted Today?". CBC.ca . 2017-09-03.
  2. McGuire, Bill (October 16, 2003). "In the shadow of the volcano". The Guardian .
  3. Marshall, Lee (2017-09-28). "'Locals console themselves with religion': Life in the shadow of an active volcano". The Daily Telegraph .
  4. "From 2003 till now". Protezione Civile.
  5. 1 2 3 "New red zone". Protezione Civile.
  6. "Reference event and alert levels". Protezione Civile.
  7. Pasha-Robinson, Lucy (2016-10-14). "Mount Vesuvius eruption risk: Emergency plans to evacuate 700,000 finalised". The Independent .
  8. Edwards, Catherine (2016-10-13). "Italy puzzles over how to save 700,000 people from wrath of Vesuvius". The Local .
  9. Data taken from ISTAT's demographic data and referred to 31 December 2017.