No Need to Run in Hawaii: The Lava Is Coming, but Very Slowly

nytimes.com

14 points·ritchiea··6 comments

Would it be too difficult and/or costly to divert lava away from the town? Like digging a trench toward a nearby valley? Or is the volcano so unpredictable that another flow might begin to threaten the town from a different direction at any time?

There have definitely been operations to try and divert lava streams, for example on the Icelandic island of Heimaey in the 1970s:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heimaey

There are various factors including the unpredictable nature of the flow as well as the cost and sheer effort involved. But, also very prominently is the cultural sensitivity to not disrupt the will of the volcano goddess Pele.

http://hawaiitribune-herald.com/news/local-news/county-diver...

KHON2 (the local Honolulu Fox Affilate) has a good 5 part series on the ongoing Kilauea eruption -- check part 3 for more discussion on your question.

http://khon2.com/kilauea-facing-the-fire/

Free version: https://archive.today/0akQW

I'm amazed anyone ever chooses to live somewhere that precarious, and that their first thought is "well, we'll get a lot of time to evacuate" - sure, but you've still lost your home, anything you didn't take with you, possibly your job, and have to now find somewhere else to live and completely change your life. I guess for some people that wouldn't be so hard, but I could never do it.

"sure, but you've still lost your home, anything you didn't take with you, possibly your job, and have to now find somewhere else to live and completely change your life."

I think you just laid out precisely why it is hard for them to move out ASAP.

That's why I don't understand the concept of living in such a precarious place.

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