Mount Stromboli and Sea Photo by Daren R. Couch
Some of those answers may be because it is familiar to them, or because of the beauty of living there when there isn’t a disaster, or because of a business that makes a good living from a tourist destination. Maybe you can think of a few reasons too. Be sure to share these in the comments. It will be interesting to hear these.
I have seen examples of this in the San Salvador area of El Salvador, with people living at the base of a volcano, and in Hawaii, the same thing. Last week I saw it at Mt. Etna in Sicily, and at Mt. Stromboli, north of Sicily.
Mt. Etna has erupted at least 5 times this year. (2012) When we saw it, white smoke was coming from it. Our guide said, that is the first sign of an eruption coming. Most eruptions are small, but some do spew lava. Most of time the lava spew is not enough to cause damage. Seismologist monitor the active volcano to know better when there is danger. For the locals, they can really tell it is serious when the helicopters start flying, and hovering at the volcano.
Mt. Stromboli has been in almost a constant state of eruption for the last 2000 years. It is a different kind of eruption, and that type of eruption is called a Strombolian eruption. Even with other volcanoes, it is called the same term. The eruptions are mild to moderate with incandescent smoke bombs, lasting a few minutes to a few hours. The eruptions may occur every few minutes, or few hours. When we passed Mt. Stromboli on the cruise ship, there was a mild eruption three times. It does spew enough lava at times to cause major damage. Some of those times were in 2002, 2003, and 2007.
Here are some pictures of Mt. Etna, and Mt. Stromboli.
This is what it would have looked like at Mt. Etna, if it was erupting at the time we were there.