Diagrams — An island village before and after a volcanic eruption

The diagrams show where a volcano is situated on a small island, and how a village on the island was changed by a volcanic eruption.

Overall, the eruption transformed the settlement dramatically: a stream of lava buried the farmland, destroyed most of the houses and left only two standing, while palm trees later spread across the former fields. The volcano itself rises at the western end of the island, encircled by the sea.

Before the eruption, the village stood on a broad area of cleared farmland in the centre of the island, to the east of the then-dormant volcano. Five houses were grouped among a handful of palm trees, and a narrow path led from the settlement towards the south-eastern coast.

After the volcano erupted, the island changed almost beyond recognition. A river of lava ran down the mountainside and snaked along the southern side of the island, cutting the village off from the coast. The farmland vanished completely under ash and lava, and three of the five houses were destroyed. The two that survived stood isolated among the palm trees, which had multiplied and scattered across the area where crops had once been grown.