The next two stories are about a more ancient eruption than Pompeii and a more recent eruption. They take place in two different parts of the world and they raise the same questions we have about Pompeii: What warning was there? What choices did the people make?

If I had to guess, I would say that it would be more likely that people got out of the way in the recent eruption. I say this because I assume that people would learn more about volcanoes and the possible dangers over time.

In that case I would be wrong again. It is only since the 1960’s that scientists have really understood how volcanoes work. So people caught in the area of a volcanic eruption anytime before 1960 would not have known what to do.

Read about Santorini and Krakatoa. Think about Pompeii. Let’s think about why the populations in these three situations made the choices that they did.