By: Nour Hany

For more than two weeks, Europe's most active volcano and the continent’s largest, Mount Etna, kept belching ash, lava and smoke over the Sicilian countryside. Many of these eruptions usually occur at night, leaving citizens and scientists amazed and awed by its spectacular look. Fortunately, this time, there has been no injuries nor evacuations.

“On 16 February, Etna erupted, sending up high fountains of lava, which rolled down the mountain's eastern slope toward the uninhabited Bove Valley, which is five kilometers wide and eight kilometers long. The volcano has belched out ash and lava stones that showered the southern side.”

People who live in villages and towns on the mountain, perfectly coexist with these eruption and life always goes on for them. However, “Sometimes, like in recent days, lava stones rain down on streets, bounce off cars and rattle roofs”.

In Greek legends, Etna scored some really significant eruptions in its history, some of which are characterized as being deadly! In 396 BCE, an eruption was known for keeping the army of Carthage at bay. Not only that, in 1669, the worst eruption of that volcano occurred. “Lava buried a swath of Catania, about 23 kilometers away and devastated dozens of villages. An eruption in 1928 cut off a rail route circling the mountain’s base.”

The current eruption, however, caused a rain of ash and stones down the streets, which also led the airport to temporarily close its doors until the ash rain phenomenon is over. It was not the first, and definitely will not be the last eruption of Mount Etna. Let us just hope that the upcoming eruptions will not be as deadly as the previous ones!

References

https://www.livescience.com/mount-etna-eruption-photos-2021.html

https://abc7chicago.com/mount-etna-eruption-2021-erupts-sicily-mt/10370576/