Natural Disasters and Roman Emergency Management?

[Magnus]

Interesting topic. I also saw a Discovery channel about Vesuvius Roman and modern era, and how the modern citizens are sitting on a time bomb that will go off. Just a question of when.

I find it hard to imagine how our ancient counterparts would have dealt with such a disaster. With our modern tecnology in the form of fast transportation (Navy ships, helicopters, trains and large transport trucks) we can pull off fast rescues, however I don't see how aid could arrive fast enough from large neighbhouring cities to be of any use 2000 years ago. The same can be said of the medical knowledge and equipment...and even the amount of manpower that can be brought into a disaster area in a very short amount of time.

The Romans fall very short of our own capability in this area, simply due to our technological breakthroughs in machinery. If you look at how much trouble modern disasters give us, just imagine what the Romans would have gone through without our technology.

I think it would be a case of "Let's get the hell out of here, and come back when the dust settles."

[Praefectusclassis]

Well, yeah, maybe, but considering the enormous crowd of people living around Vesuvius and the congested transport system, I really would not want to bet evacuation will be much faster when it does go off again. In fact, I think it'll be "Let's get the hell out of here, and come back when the dust settles." (in Italian, doh!)

[Magnus]

Hahahaha...yeah, I was meaning more the ancients Jasper. But the show I saw said that anyone within the "red area", which was basically ground zero out to "X" amount of miles within the eruption, wouldn't have to worry about anything, because they'd be dead.

But the "orange area", or next danger zone was twice as huge! And it encompassed the city and beyond...even the head planner for the area was hinting that "if it goes, we're screwed".

I think you're correct in a way...you'd have to wait for the ash to stop falling before you could move certain vehicles in. The amount of environemental gear you'd need to get any significatn number of people in there to help out is staggering.

[Restitvtvs]

Romans had some understanding of basic volcanic processes, knew that Vesuvius was volcanic. However, Vesuvius had been dormant for several centuries before 79 AD ([url:3jvrg6ec]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vesuvius[/url]; [url:3jvrg6ec]http://www.channel4.com/history/microsites/P/pompeii/vesuv.htm[/url]), and some Romans thought it was extinct.

Some Romans, like some people today worldwide today, took greater risks with their lives & investments. They built, lived & worked relatively close to Mount Vesuvius.

Roman communities were generally fewer & smaller than present Italian communities ([url:3jvrg6ec]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classical_demography[/url]; [url:3jvrg6ec]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_Italy[/url]). That would make ancient Roman land & naval evacuation somewhat feasible with smaller, slower horses, carts, ships, etc (versus their modern counterparts). However, the Roman people & local governments were not well prepared for volcanic eruptions. No prior funding, no plans, no preparedness, no practicing, no disaster facilities, no pre-position disaster logistics, etc.

One of the Roman Empire's major naval bases was in Misenum, on the west end of the Bay of Naples. They had some naval evacuation capacity, but they did not practice evacuations to be prepared for volcanic eruptions.

Livy the Younger's written accounts of his uncle, Pliny the Elder (Roman admiral [commander of the Misenum fleet] & natural philosopher), indicate that Pliny the Elder started naval evacuation during the earlier, less violent/deadly stages of the 79 AD eruption. Pliny the Elder died during the naval evacuations ([url:3jvrg6ec]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pliny_the_Elder[/url]).

There was enough time for many people to evacuate by land, but they didn't know Vesuvius could erupt more violently, they didn't know which way choking ash & glowing clouds would go under the atmospheric conditions at that time, etc.

Still, it seems likely that at least some people would have more cautious than others, that they may have voluntarily evacuated by land, rather than wait & see if Vesuvius' eruption would get worse & force them to evacuate or die.

Today, we all continue to gamble with our lives & property. Some take more & greater risks than others ([url:3jvrg6ec]http://www.protezionecivile.it/minisite/index.php?dir_pk=250&cms_pk=1440&n_page=3[/url]). Some have fewer & less desirable choices. Do I stay or do I go? Do I walk, bike, or drive? Do I work or do I play? What will I wear, eat & drink? Do I marry or not? Where will I/we live? Children? So many different variables, some more predictable than others. Like us "moderns" today, the ancients used "BAD" (aka "Best Available Data"), which wasn't so good as today. So many priorities.

Personally: Mount Vesuvius, nice place to visit, but I wouldn't want to live or build too close though...

[Jeroen Pelgrom]

Hahahaha...yeah, I was meaning more the ancients Jasper. But the show I saw said that anyone within the "red area", which was basically ground zero out to "X" amount of miles within the eruption, wouldn't have to worry about anything, because they'd be dead.

according to South Park you should "duck and take cover" and everything will be allright! :wink:

but interesting sites.