Then All Hell Broke Loose…
Sunday, 8 June 1783… God’s patience had run its course; the hour of afflictions had arrived. Whitsun would not be a day of celebration, but one of weeping and lamentation.
(from Island on Fire, 2015, p.15-16).
We don’t often associate family history with volcanic eruptions. Except in rare circumstances these events have been too far away to seemingly be linked to upheavals in human history, at least in the developed regions of Europe.
Scientific and historical studies, and news reports have made us knowledgeable of the destruction that can unfold when Mother Nature decides to let loose a torrent of hot debris and gases from the depths of the Earth. In present day circumstances we are made aware of the potential of these kinds of threats well in advance of their occurrence which allows people in nearby communities to evacuate.
Most of the world’s volcanoes are concentrated along tectonic plate boundaries common to earthquakes and eruptions. Rarely do they affect communities where most of the Earth’s population live. But there have been occasions in the past – and will be more in the future – when the lives of people were severely disrupted as the Earth began to spew lava
