Discussion for article #229390
I lived in the Puna District of the Big Island for 16 years and left because of the Vog - volcanic smoke - in the air. The Puna is located on the side of Mauna Loa, the largest active volcano on the Big Island. Everyone living in the Puna walks on lava. Everyone builds their houses on lava. If you dig into the earth you have to use a bar to brake up the lava. It’s lava - lava - lava. It’s not IF your house will be destroyed by lava but WHEN. The Big Island is growing and living from lava flows. Tens of millions of dollars comes into the Big Island from tourists wanting to see the lava flows. Pele is in control. Everything is impermanent. Nothing stops lava flowing.
“Why would someone live on an active volcano? Unlike Honolulu, the state’s biggest city on the island of Oahu, the Big Island’s Puna region has affordable land and offers a more rural way of life.”
Forty to fifty years ago, when much of this area built up, the volcano was dormant. Kilauea Crater hadn’t had a significant lava flow outside of the park for a long time. This new fissure is miles away from where the lava has been flowing into the Pacific for years now.