Mount

Etna
In Brief:

> Mount Etna is an active volcano on the east coast of Sicily, close to the cities
Messina and Catania.

> The age of the rock is said to be 500,000 years old.

> The Last eruption was in 2008

> Height of the Volcano is 3,326 meters

Map 1 shows the location of Mount Etna:

Mount Etna is the largest active volcano in Europe, currently standing at

around 3,326 meters high which makes it the largest of the three active volcanoes
in Italy, being even three times the height of the next largest, Mount Vesuvius.

Mount Etna is one of the most active volcanoes in the world and is in constant
state of eruption.
Eruptions
The most destructive eruption occurred in March 1669. The eruption was followed
by two months of powerful earthquakes which happened on the slopes of the
mountain, causing most villagers living there to abandon their homes. Even
though they left their homes, they soon could not run away forever and a large
amount were brutally killed.

On the 11 of March, a 9 km-long crack opened up on the south side of the

mountain, the crack was massive. The largest vent opened near the town of
Nicolosi. Nicolosi was quickly destroyed by lava flows, and two other nearby
villages were destroyed during the eruption's first day. A further four villages were
destroyed in the following three days as the lava flowed. In late March two larger
towns were destroyed, and the lava managed to reach the city of Catania in early
April. The people of Catania tried to protect themselves by building city walls but
they could not go against this massive force of nature. First, lava crashed against
the city walls, which were built to be strong enough to protect the city. However,
while the city was at the time protected, the lava flowed into its harbour and filled
it. On 30 April, lava flowed over the top of
the city walls, which were poorly built and
were destroyed. The city of Catania then
built walls across the roads to change the
direction of the lava, which were a little
effective but did not prevent the destruction.

A drawing showing the devastating effects of

Etna's 1669 eruption

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Another eruption in 1928 led to the first destruction since the 1669 eruption. The
town of Mascali was destroyed in just two days, with the lava destroying every
building. Again many people died. The main problem was that the city of Mascali
was growing and they had a lot of people populated in it. So when Etna erupted,
many people were killed. It erupted in the morning when many people were
asleep and many were crushed inside their own homes. Farmland mainly was
damaged because a lot of animals died and the land was destroyed.
In 2002-2003, Etna launched a big amount of ash that could be seen from space
and some of the ash fell to Libya, which was 600 km away from it. The vibrations
activity of the eruption caused the sides of the volcano to fall by 2 meters; this
made the many houses on the sides of the volcano shattered. The eruption also
damaged the economy as many popular tourist areas were damaged. The country
was still re building after the previous eruption, but it is now a pile of dirt once
again.

Etna's 2002 eruption from a satellite

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On 4 September 2007 Etna violently erupted at around 8:00 p.m. local time, firing
lava up to 400 m into the air along with strong winds that sent ash and smoke into
the towns. This long eruption lasted for a short period of time, ending the
following morning between the hours of 5 to 7 am local time. Catania’s Airport
shut down during the night for safety reasons.

Etna's September. 2007 eruption seen

from the southeast crater.

The fertile volcanic rocks support agriculture and farming as it contains a lot of
nutrients packed. It is hard for everyone that lives in Sicily because no one really
knows when this active volcano will erupt again. Mount Etna has been called a
Decade Volcano by the United Nations because it has erupted for such a long
time.
Measures that have been taken:
All of the previous volcanic events had not given the people
warnings that they were actually going to take place. If these
warnings are told then evacuations can take place. They should use
a seismograph to measure any small foreshocks and observe
animals because they all often act strangely. If people evacuated,
then there would have been thousands of lives saved. However if
evacuations continue, then the people who do evacuate need to be
looked after, such as being placed in a house and having food and
shelter. Most of the deaths in the previous eruptions were caused by
diseases spreading from contaminated food and water which of
course gave the people diarrhea. Aid is important. The local people
were not told what to do once it had started and many were baffled.
So people should also get educated about what to do when a
Eruption starts. The emergency rescue teams should be equipped
and well trained. Hospitals should be put on red alert, and the
electricity should be back quickly to avoid fires.

Poor buildings like these need a big improvement, because they

collapse in a second.