Is it possible for a volcano to erupt without harming a nearby town?
Jun 24, 2009
in
Volcano
I'm writing a novel and there's a volcano in it. I'm trying to figure out how the volcano can erupt while the town remains intact. A dusting of ashes and a couple of burned buildings are acceptable, but I don't want to completely decimate the town and I want most of the locals to survive.
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One comment
unitedcats2004 on June 24, 2009 at 2:30 pm
Depends on what you mean by "nearby." But to answer your question, absolutely. Just depends on the size of the eruption, type of eruption, where the town is situated, and prevailing winds at the time. You could easily and realistically have a town a mile away with a really spectacular view in more or less complete safety with just the dusting of ash you describe. (No one in their right mind would continue living there after the volcano erupted, since small eruptions can precede big eruptions, but I presume that's not the issue.) And if you need a bigger eruption, yes, a town could be 5-10 miles from a fairly big eruption as long as the wind was the right way and no mudflows/ashflows were channelled toward the town.