Neither was the case—the walls were quickly swallowed by the extremely hot lava and nearly 17,000 people in Catania died. Most of the city was destroyed. Catania was not the only city affected—the eruption wiped out 14 towns and villages and left about 27,000 people homeless.

Although infrequent, lava flow inundation of inhabited areas can have devastating consequences for affected communities. Lava flows bury assets and land in addition to bulldozing or igniting structures (e.g. Blong 1984; Oppenheimer 2011; Harris 2015; Kilburn 2015).

At nearly 11,000 feet, Mount Etna in eastern Sicily is one of the world’s most active volcanoes. And while the peak erupts at a slow enough rate for people to escape a lava burial, the gentle giant could put people at an increased risk of a different hazard—the development of thyroid cancer.

The geology of Etna Most volcanoes have iron- rich magma, but these three stratovolcanoes have a high silica (silicon dioxide) content which makes the magma more viscous. This means that the lava covers a shorter distance before it solidifies and gives stratovolcanoes a characteristic conical shape with steep sides.

The 1669 eruption of Mount Etna is the largest-recorded historical eruption of the volcano on the east coast of Sicily, Italy.

Close all windows, doors, and fireplace or woodstove dampers. Turn off all fans and heating and air conditioning systems. Bring pets and livestock into closed shelters.

Magma rises in volcanic vents; when it reaches the surface it is called lava. Low-silica lavas are less viscous and travel faster than higher-silica lavas, which are more viscous and travel slower. Viscous lavas sometimes cool before they travel very far, which is why they are often less hazardous.

basaltic lava
Etna’s current activity consists of continuous summit degassing, explosive Strombolian eruptions, and frequent basaltic lava flows.

MOUNT ETNA has traditionally been thought of as a safe volcano. Because of the fertile volcanic soils, more than 20 per cent of Sicilians live on its slopes. Competition for living space and valuable farmland mean that more and more people are living within the danger zones of these volcanoes.

At 3,324 metres, Etna is the tallest active volcano in Europe and has erupted frequently in the past 500,000 years. Mount Etna, one of the world’s most active volcanoes, belched smoke and ashes in a new eruption on Tuesday, but Italian authorities said it posed no danger to the surrounding villages.

1800 eruption had viscosities as low as 50–60 Pa s, channel velocities of up to 9–12 m/s (near the vent) and effusion rates of 100–200 m3/s (Kauahikaua et al., 2002).

Human-made diversion of lava flows at Mt Etna in 1983. During the 1983 eruption at My Etna, earthworks were used effectively to divert lava flows away from inhabited areas. During 50 days of 13 working hours per day a total volume of 750,000 cubic m of material was moved and about 10 km of service roads were built.

All the actions carried out in 1992 to protect the village of Zafferana Etnea from being invaded by lava are described. An earthen barrier 234 m long and 21 m high was firstly built in January 1992 by accumulating with mechanical escavators 370,000 m 3 of earth, scoriae and stones.

Barriers of rock and ash were constructed in an attempt to divert the lava. “They were trying to slow it down and direct it downhill,” Dr Nawotniak says. One of the first barriers, 18m high and 10m wide, was overrun, but a second barrier blocked lava from moving further west.

The major effort of the 1992 operation consisted of several attempts at stopping the lava fiont advance b x diverting the flow out from the natural and extensively tunnelled channel through a skylight near the vent.