Earthquakes, not just volcanic ash, a Pompeii killer: research

AFP | Rome

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Victims who perished in Pompeii after the devastating 79 AD eruption of Mount Vesuvius may have been killed by a simultaneous earthquake, according to new research published yesterday.

Scholars have debated for decades whether seismic activity occurred during the eruption of Vesuvius in southern Italy nearly 2,000 years ago, and not just before it, as reported by Pliny the Younger, an author and administrator in Ancient Rome, in his letters.

The article published yesterday in the academic journal “Frontiers in Earth Science” takes a new look at the now world-famous archaeological site, arguing that one or more concurrent earthquakes were “a contributing cause of building collapse and death of the inhabitants”.

“Our conclusions suggest that the effects of the collapse of buildings triggered by syn-eruptive seismicity (seismic activity at the time of an eruption) should be regarded as an additional cause of death in the ancient Pompeii,” it said. Archaeologists estimate that 15 to 20 percent of Pompeii’s population died in the eruption, mostly from thermal shock as a giant cloud of gases and ash covered the city.