WHY DO PEOPLE EVEN THINK OF LIVING ON VOLCANIC LANDS IN THE FIRST PLACE? WHY DON'T PEOPLE MAKE SOME KIND OF BUILDING ON A FAR END OF THE LAND FOR PEOPLE TO GO TO WHEN A VOLCANO ERUPTS

rocky Kelly Smith and Tessa Sumwalt

Dear Kelly and Tessa,

In some places, for example many islands, it is the only land available to live on. Other people live on volcanoes because they are beautiful or because it is the only place where the land is affordable. Building shelters is a good idea but would be expensive. In some eruption hundreds of thousands of people are evacuated. Even if the building was at the far end of the island certain geologic hazards (airfall, pyroclastic flows, tsunami) might still reach it.

Thanks for a good question.

Steve Mattox, University of North Dakota 

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