Prepare yourself Europe: The Neapolitans are also coming!

And not by thousands, but by hundreds of thousands and possibly several million. The Italian geologists and geophysicists convinced the national and European Union politicians that the massive evacuations of people from the surrounding areas of Vesuvius and Phlagrean Fields volcanoes is the only viable risk management strategy for these areas and that the rest of Italians will with open arms embrace the homeless Neapolitans following the re-awakenings of these volcanoes. Critical review of this strategy demonstrates, however, the technical and economic non-reliability of such an undertaking with grave cultural, economic, social, and political consequences for the entire nation and other European states.

The Vesuvius evacuation plan was politicized in 1995 to prevent the development of an interdisciplinary risk management feasibility plan (VESUVIUS 2000) for the Vesuvius area. This and the subsequent and similar Phlagrean Fields evacuation plan has institutionalized volcanic risk management incompetence, produced harm to the Neapolitans, increased and not decreased the volcanic risk from Neapolitan volcanoes, and damaged the capacity of volcanologists to confront volcanic risk in densely populated areas.

The current immigrations into Europe from Middle East and Africa provide a clear example of how difficult it is to resettle masses of people and perhaps this experience can provide some lessons to the architects and supporters of one-way massive evacuation (deportation) plans. Today, the European Union has great difficulty of handling even small masses of unfortunates while Italy cannot handle even 20,000 immigrants a month, but according to Vesuvius and Phlegraean Fields evacuation plans there will be no problem managing over a million angry Neapolitans who in several days are supposed to invade many great Italian cities and be received with open arms by the over generous Italians who will set appart their diffidences and political persuasions. Good luck Neapolitans and don't worry about your abandoned possessions, your cultural artifacts, your friends and separations from family members, because the organized crime in the Bay of Naples will be the first to dispose of these reaches and provide new homes for homeless and refugees and reduce the burden on politicians on what to do with these unfortunate individuals.

But let us reflect: Will the great contributors to Western Civilization be so stupid by leaving their beloved land and spend their remaining lives begging on the streets of the European cities? Goethe spent only several weeks in the Bay of Naples and understood the Neapolitan mentality and declared: That no Neapolitan wants to leave his city, and that its poets sing in mighty hyperbole of the blissfulness of this locality, should not be held against them, not even if there were few more Vesuviuses in the vicinity.

11 July 2017