Alright Head Squeezers Huw James here, I'm currently on Mount Etna down in Sicily and
it is pretty amazing scenery but I'm here to tell you how to survive one of these bad
boys if they do go off.
Ok, so first off, why do volcanoes happen?
Well the whole earth is split up into a lot of plates.
We call them Plates Tectonics and on these plates they all move around on something called
the mantle.
So all these plates are moving around and sometimes they come together and build mountain
chains like the Himalayas, sometimes they rub past each other and they set off earthquakes
and sometimes like here in Sicily, one goes underneath the other and we call that a subduction
zone.
And you get an upwelling of lava from deep under the crust and that comes out and up
through volcanoes like Mount Etna.
Now you might be sat at home in your pyjamas eating a sandwich nice and safe, but there
are five hundred million people who live on or near volcanoes.
There is potentially fifteen hundred of these volcanic beasts are active right now and here
in the phalanx of Mount Etna is a brilliant example of the threat they pose.
The number one weapon against volcanoes is always going to be knowledge.
Out here on these volcanoes like Mount Etna we're lucky 'cause volcanologists are monitoring
the place all the time so it's good to keep a radio in your backpack maybe to listen out
for advanced warnings.
But there is all kind of visible and audible warnings just like this.
So volcanic tremors are tremors you can hear and we've actually heard and felt quite a
few this week as well.
And there are all signs that things are starting to get a bit hairy so there's activity going
on inside the volcano, there is magma pushing through cracks in vents and there is pressurised
gasses building up and all pointing towards there is going to be some kind of eruption
quite soon.
Most people think the most dangerous things about volcanoes is the lava that comes out
of them when in fact that is not actually true.
Because even though the lava is absolutely relentless, and will never hold up as you
can see with this house, they don't move very fast.
But lava like I said, just keeps coming and coming and the lava flows it flowed down Mount
Etna it can reach between five hundred and fifty and one thousand four hundred degrees
Celsius.
So never try to cross the path of one, try not to step over one, even if there is one
on your doorstep.
Not it can get quite dangerous when the lava hits anything like ice or snow which it can
get on Mount Etna quite a lot in the winter seasons.
And when it does it creates something called a lahar.
And they travel down the mountain really fast picking up boulders ten meters in diameter.
Now if you want to try and outrun them don't even bother because they can move at forty
meters per second.
So how can you survive one of these lahars?
To start off with you have to start off with your ears.
Lahars make a really loud audible rumble and that's your starting pistol, your cue to get
to higher ground.
Go anywhere where there is high ground, avoid valleys and ravines, because if you do you're
just gonna get engulfed.
Now even more dangerous are pyroclastic flows.
These are huge clouds of gas and tephra ash.
Which flow down at something like four hundred and fifty miles per hour.
And inside that cloud it could reach up to a thousand degrees centigrade.
Even if you do manage to find some shelter and survive that you're gonna need a few tools.
That cloud is gonna block out the cloud for at least a few days so you're gonna need some
kind of torch and something to wrap around your face as well a wet cloth to go around
your face, the ash particles can be as small as ten microns which will irritate your lungs.
Not only that but the sulphur dioxide and hydro fluoride will make a nasty cocktail
that will rot your teeth and give you extreme diarrhoea if you're not careful.
So this is it, your only option is to find some shelter, and once you do, seal up all
the windows and the air condition vents and put towels, wet towels, across the doors so
you can keep all that ash out.
And even though it sounds really tempting don't jump in your car and try and drive away
because ash will play havoc with the mechanics and you'll be left stranded in the danger
zone.
So stay put, check the roof occasionally for a build-up of ash, pat yourself on the back
for out foxing Mother Nature, stay hydrated and make sure to take a little bit of quiet
time to deal with that pesky diarrhoea.
So since we're hanging around on Mount Etna I've decided to try a few live experiments
with my friends just for you guys and I think you'll like them so if you want to have a
look at those just click this button here.