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3 Reasons Why Pompeii’s Destruction Was Worse Than It Should Have Been

A city buried in ashes in the glimpse of two days

Lioness Rue
4 min readFeb 12, 2021
An Illustration of the eruption of Mount Vesuvius by Pierre-Henri de Valenciennes —image courtesy of Wikimedia

TThe ancient city of Pompeii is famous for being destroyed by a volcano in just two days. This small town was located in the current Campania region of Italy, southeast of Naples. It was one of the unlucky places to experience the wrath of Mount Vesuvius’s eruption.

In August 79 A.D., the people of Pompeii were unaware of the tragic incident that was about to strike their city. If the people weren’t burnt with the hot volcanic lava from Mount Vesuvius, then suffocation and immense heat would make the kill. Well, they couldn’t escape too. You will find out why later.

What happened before the eruption?

The eruption of Mount Vesuvius was not sudden as presumed by many. The people of Pompeii saw many warnings of the eruption before it even occurred. Among the warning signs were:

  • A very destructive earthquake in 62 A.D., leaving a much damaged Pompeii.
  • Following this earthquake, another one followed in 64 A.D.
  • Underground springs dried up.
  • The fish were dying due to high acidity in the surrounding water.

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Lioness Rue
Lioness Rue

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