Why people wanted to live near Volcanos. - Xinzi.

There are a few reasons why people want to live near a volcano.

Firstly, through some economic reasons, there will probably be a large amount of jobs available in the area created by tourism, like having visitors to the volcano and the surrounding area.

Secondly, there might be volcanoes that create rocks rich in minerals some of which are precious (gold, diamonds etc.) which would create mines, which would make more jobs for the local community. However, these minerals help in other ways as well, because not all of them are mined; some ‘helpful’ minerals are left to help the crops to grow bigger and stronger than crops grown in surrounding counties. This is also good for farmers in the area because they can get more money from their larger crops, which then helps the area’s economy.

Thirdly, the bigger crops would mean more diverse wildlife in the area creating more tourism and jobs for the people of the area, the wildlife would also make a good teaching resource for school in the area, as would the volcano itself. The wildlife/tourism could also turn into a good cycle as well, i.e. more tourism = more conservation efforts for wildlife = more wildlife = more tourism etc.

Also, there is another economic upside of living near a volcano is that geothermal energy is an easily accessible resource and, a very cheap and reliable way to create electricity. This would mean that electricity would be cheaper in the surrounding area and the people would be able to spend more money on the things they want to do, rather than on things like electricity and gas. Hot water would also not be a problem because the volcano would create hot springs from which hot water could be piped into homes and, also surrounding businesses i.e. hotels.

Next, onto some social reasons for living near a volcano. The major thing that people think, having lived near a volcano for most or all of their lives, is that age old saying, ‘It won’t happen to me’. This is often a sentence that forces people to stay where others would have left, because if they have lived next to a volcano for most of, or all of, their lives, then they will be quite content in thinking that it would not erupt in their lifetime. Another thing that fits in with this point is sentimentality. As human beings we get a lot of our feelings from the world around us and also the things we own. So asking someone to leave the place where they grew up just because of a volcano is (perhaps from their point of view) a little unfair.

Lastly, some of the people who live near the volcano may also be superstitious and may read things like horoscopes, which might tell them that they will be safe for as long as they live. Now I am not saying that horoscopes always lie because I have never read one, but I do not think that they can predict when volcanoes are going to erupt.