How can you be prepared for an volcanic eruption?

Firstly to be prepared for a volcanic eruption you need to have a plan of what you and your family are going to do if there is a volcanic eruption. It is likely that when it happens your family will be apart so make sure your plan is understood by every one.
Secondly you need to have an emergency kit with essential thing to survive in it.
Your kit should include:

Flashlight and extra batteries

First aid kit and manual

Emergency food and water for up to 3 days

Non-electric can opener

Essential medicines

Dust mask for every body in your family

Sturdy shoes 

Goggles

Pet food for your pets

Extra water for your pets

A battery powered radio so you can listen to updates plus extra batteries

Extra warm clothes and blankets

You should always listen to authoroties and follow their instructions.

If you are caught in a volcanic eruption here is what you should do:

If you are caught indoors:
Close all windows and doors
Put all machinery inside a garage or barn.
Bring animals into closed shelters.
If you are trapped outdoors:
try to seek shelter indoors.
If caught in a rockfall, roll into a ball to protect your head.
If caught near a stream, be aware of mudflows. Move up higher, especially if you hear the roar of a mudflow.
How to protect yourself during ashfall:
Wear long-sleeved shirts and long pants.
Use goggles to protect your eyes.
Use a dust mask or hold a damp cloth over your face to help breathing. You don't want to breathe in ash as it is extremerly bad for your respiratory system and your body.
Keep car or truck engines off.

If you are told to evacuate listen to goverment officals and take your emergency kit with you if you can.
Beaware that if you take your pet with you the emergency shelter might not allow pets.

How Did This Natural Disaster Happen? What Is The Process Of This Disaster?

A picture of a plinian eruption

There are different types of eruptions and each has different dangers. Mt Vesuvius is a composite volcano and can erupt in two different ways.When Pompeii was buried it was a plinian eruption.The plinian eruption is the largest most violent volcanic erruption. Plinian eruptions don't have lava flowing down the side of the volcano like you see in movies (although this is the other way Mt Vesuvius can erupt).They happen when gassy magma breaks up causing lots of built up pressure.this pressure bulids up until it erupts. huge ash clouds and rocks are thrust out and can go up to 50km high!The huge ash cloud looks a bit like an umbrella tree or mushroom. The ash suffocates every thing when it lands on the ground because it lands so thick. Also the gas from the volcano is poisonous and can kill you if you breathe it in.

What Happened To Get Life Back To Normal? Who Helped?

Sadly Pompeii never got back to normal. So much ash, mud debris and pumice covered the city it made it impossible to ever live there again in the original houses. This all became clear when search and rescue teams went back in to try and find survivors. Around 6 metres of pumice, ash and mud  covered everything! Domenico Fontana found the city again in the 16th century it was a surprise and such a great discovery to find it.

What Effect Did It Have On The People? Short and Long term?

Short term everybodies homes were ruined and destroyed, peoples lives were lost and people all over the Roman Empire lost a provider meaning other cities had to step up to accomodate the people of Pompeii. Other cities also had to provide what Pompeii did along with what their city already provided.
Long term it provided a huge surprise and tourist attractiion when Pompeii was found again. Pompeii had been forgotten before its acidental rediscovery in 1749. After that Pompeii became a huge tourist attraction; in 2008 2.6 million people visited Pompeii! It also provided a very intresting insight into a roman city seeing as it had been preserved so well in the hot mud,pumice and ash.

What Effect Did This Disaster Have On The Land?

After the eruption mud and ash covered all the buildings. When rescue teams came back after the disaster it became clear no-one could live there. All the houses were collapsing under the weight. After not having anybody live there for years plants and trees grew back, making it hard to believe a city that is now buried  under 6 metres of dirt was there. The eruption also changed the route of the Sarno river to its orginal path and raised the beaches level. Pompeii is now a lot different looking in its land form.

Who Was Affected?

Pompeii was a popular city in the bay of Naples. The population was around estimated to be around 15,000-20,000 and and around 2,000 people were found dead with lots more people guessed to be dead. Almost everybody who survived would of known someone who was killed. This must of been devastating for the survivors. Also all the survivors would of had to find a new home in another city.  Another thing that affected people is Pompeii  exported goods to other cities all around the Roman empire via the Sarno river. With Pompeii gone another city would have to fill its space producing all the things Pompeii produced. As you can see this disaster would have affected many people all around the Roman empire.

What Happened?

Pompeii was two natural disasters. 17 years (which may seem along time but isn't really) before the eruption there was an earthquake measuring around 5-6 on the richtor scale. Pompeii was used to having small tremors but it was quite rare to have one that big. After the earthquake many people didn't rebuild and moved to nearby cities. If that earth quake hadn't of happened quite a few more people would of lost their lives. 17 years later Mt Vesuvius erupted. to start with it looked just like a big black cloud of smoke. Then after that it looked like a huge fire burning up the top of Mt Vesuvius. A volcano hadn't happened in the roman empires time so no-one knew exactly what it was.When the actual eruption happened mud, ash and rock flowed down the volcano and through the city, Killing lots of the residents and preserving everything in a very thick layer of debris, ash and pumice. Archeologists think from the bodies they found that the deaths happened very fast, in around a second. This is because the bodies show no sign of reaction to the boiling hot tempretures of the mud. Quite a few cities around Mt Vesuvius had the same problems as Pompeii but Pompeii was the most famous. This natural disaster caught people of gaurd and was very unexpected like the Christchuch earthquake.

When did it happen?

Nobody is quite sure of the actual date or time but it is thought that the erruption happened on either November the 23rd or August the 24th. The year the Eruption happened was .79AD In a letter sent to some one it says that the erruption happened the 24th of August but other information points towards the 23rd of November. Firstly a coin was found in a lady's purse that couldn't of been minted before the second week in September, and Secondly if it had happened in August fresh summer fruit would still be in stock. Only preserved and dried summer fruit was found in shops.The thing that is known about the date and time is the erruption lasted for two days, spreading ash over a large area.

My Natural Disaster Was...

Pompeii. Pompeii was a Roman city located near Mt Vesuvius (a volcano). Pompeii was a terrible volcanic erruption taking the lives of many, many people who lived there.