The Eruption

A woman escapes a volcano eruption.

The Eruption

Three days ago something happened to me that I would never have believed if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes. Something so terrible that I shudder just to write about it. I am a scientist and I decided to study Mount Roderigo, in Italy. It is a beautiful place with stunning views from the top of the mountain. But it hides a terrible secret. For Mount Roderigo is a volcano.

I was staying with a family who owned a farm not far from the volcano. Why live so near to a volcano, you ask? THere are several reasons why the Piazzo family lived there. First, the lava from the volcanic eruption is full of minerals. It solidifies into molten rock. After many years the rock is broken down by the weather, creating a very fertile soil. This is good for growing crops in, so lots of poeple owned farms near Mount Roderigo and other volcanoes. The other reason is that the eldest Piazzo son, Jon Piazzo, worked as a guide for the tourists who visited the Volcano, meaning the he had to live nearby.

Anyway, I was staying with them because they lived so close to the volcano, making it easy to study. Mount Roderigo is an active volcano, so I knew I was taking a risk staying there, but I never expected it to actually erupt while I was there.

Let me just explain why it erupted. Mount ROderigo is on a plate margin, which is a place where two tectonic plates meet. The plates move because of convection cellds, and the two that Mount Roderigo was on were moving towards each other . This made a destructive plate margin. It is called this because the heavier plate goes under the lighter one. The plate that goes underneath melts both because of the heat of the mantle and the friction of the two plates rubbing together. The melted rock goes up throught a hole in the crust, which is the volcano. This is the lava, or magma as it is called at that point.

I had been staying there for a whole week when it happened. I had compiled plenty of information on the volcano and was ready to go home. It happened very early in the morning, when we were all asleep. The ground shookso violently that I fell out of bed. I pulled myself to my feet and staggered to the window. My room had a perfect view of the volcano, so I could see clearly what was happening.

The sky was full of ash. Nearer to the volcano things were being destroyed. I saw the tourist information building where Jon Piazzo worked reduced to rubble. I saw the Piazzo's vineyard destroyed. The farms closer to the volcano were completely destroyed by the pyroclastic flow, which is the lava that flowed down the mountainside. I though of all the people that had lived there. They must have died a horrible death.

I stood transfixed, staring in horror at the destruction the eruption was wreaking. Then it occured to me to get to safety. I had to wake the Piazzos and get out of here!

I ran out of the room and knocked loudly on the door of Mr and Mrs Piazzo's room. It opened and Mr Piazzo's face looked out.

"What?" he asked groggily.

"The volcano!" I gasped. "It's erupting!"

"What?" he cried. "It can't be!"

"It is!" I insisted.

At that moment the ground shook again and he almost fell on top of me. He seemed to decide, on reflection, to believe me. He woke his wife and we ran down the corridor. We woke all of the five children. Down in the kitchen Mrs Piazzo insisted on packing us all food. She argued that we were far enough from the volcano to be safe for the time being.

When we were prepared we charged out of the door. Jon had a van and we all piled into it. We sped down the road. The whole time I kept glancing back at the volcano.

Suddenlywe were jolted forward and my head smashed into teh chair in front. When the stars vanished from my eyes I looked back. It was a volcanic bomb that had caused us to be jolted so much. A volcanic bombis a solidified lump of molten rock.

"Speed up!" I cried.

JOn Piazzo didn't need telling twice. He slammed his foot harder on the accelerator. We sped up - but not enough. Another volcanic bomb smashed into the road ahead of us. Jon swerved off the road into a wood that lined the road. Then we crashed into a tree.

Another bomb hit the trees and the car doors were flung off. We all went flying. I landed on the road, barely missing the crater that the volcanic bomb had created. In the woods I could see no one. I decided that running was the best option.

It was becoming hotter, and the air was getting hard to breathe. The ground shook again, and I was throuwn back down on the road. Looking back I saw lava. It was the Pyroclastic flow, and it was coming closer. I tried to run faster, but I knew that, truly, there was no hope. I was going to die a very horrible death.

Then the answer fcame to me out of nowhere. Get hight. Get above the flow. I looked for somewherer, but could see nowhere. But then I saw the foothills ahead of me. If I could just make it...

I very nearly didn't. But, by some incredible stroke of luck, I got there. The pyroclastic flow was very close, and the air was almost impossible to breathe, it was so full of ash and smoke. I leapt off the road and began to make my way up the hill. I was ubelievably lucky.

I thought of all the people who hadn't been as lucky as me. Of the Piazzo family.

I think I fell asleep, because the next thing I knew the sun was making its way up the sky. And there were more survivors with me on top of the mountain. At least I wasn't the only one. Including, to my great relief, the Piazzos. I beamed at them. But...something was wrong. Mrs Piazzo was holding something small and blackened. I opened my mouth in horror.

It was Marco, the youngest Piazzo son, only five years old.

"He got caught in the lava," said Mr Piazzo, by way of explanation.

Even now, three days after the eruption, the sky is full of ash. I am in a hostel in a nearby city that had agreed to house the survivors of the eruption. I think this experience will probably change my life forever.

Author's Note

Image ~ www.foxnews.com

Reviews

[Tyler Myers]

A few grammatical errors, but an overall good story line.