THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE (MAY 27, 1902)
The mount Pelée (1, 397m - 4,583 ft)
France (Martinique)
The mountain
Mount Pelée (1, 397m - 4,583 ft) in French, Montagne Pelée (meaning "peeled mountain") is a semi-active volcano at the northern end of Martinique, an island of French overseas department in the Lesser Antilles island arc of the Caribbean. Its volcanic cone is composed of layers of volcanic ash and hardened lava. The volcano is currently in a quiescent state, which means it is not active, but is registering seismic activity. The stratovolcano is famous for its eruption in 1902 and the destruction that resulted, dubbed the worst volcanic disaster of the 20th century. The eruption killed about 30,000 people. Most deaths were caused by pyroclastic flows which completely destroyed the city of Saint-Pierre (at that time, the largest city on the island), within minutes of the eruption.
The eruption left only two survivors in the direct path of the flows: Louis-Auguste Cyparis survived because he was in a poorly ventilated, dungeon-like jail cell; Léon Compère-Léandre, living on the edge of the city, escaped with severe burns. Havivra Da Ifrile, a young girl, reportedly escaped with injuries during the eruption by taking a small boat to a cave down shore, and was later found adrift 3 km (1.9 mi) from the island, unconscious. The event marked the only major volcanic disaster in the history of France and its overseas territories.
As of 2013, the volcano currently lies quiescent above Saint-Pierre and Martinique. Before the 1902 eruption—as early as the summer of 1900—signs of increased fumarole activity were present in the Étang Sec crater. Relatively minor phreatic (steam) eruptions that occurred in 1792 and 1851 were evidence that the volcano was active. Signs of unrest will almost certainly precede any future eruptive activity from Mount Pelée, and its past activity (including the violent eruptions uncovered by carbon dating) is an extremely important factor for hazard assessment.A few volcanic earthquakes occur on Martinique every year, but Mount Pelée is under continuous watch by geophysicists and volcanologists (IPGP). As researcher Jean-Pierre Viode states, the volcanic observatory on Martinique would be able to observe activity months before an actual eruption. The city of Saint-Pierre was never fully rebuilt, though some villages grew up in its place. The estimated population of Commune of Saint-Pierre in 2004 was 4,544.
The 1902 memorable eruption inspired quite a few writers amoung whose
Gordon Thomas and Max Morgan Witts (The Day The World Ended - Stein and Day, 1969) ;
Patrick Chamoiseau (Texaco, Gallimard, 1992. Trans. Rose-Myriam Réjouis and Val Vinokurov, Vintage International, 1998) and Jean Rhys (Heat).
