From the KiKi Challenge to the Tide Pod challenge, 2018 has been a year of ridiculous trends on social media. But it seems that we may be seeing the birth of another trend which may prove to be the most outrageous of them all.
Volcano selfies are apparently a thing now, and people are really, really risking their lives out there just to get that one snap at the cost of their lives.
Volcano Seflies are the new menace in town
The Royal Geographical Society revealed via a survey that people are going out of their way to put themselves in harm’s way. All that for a couple likes and followers on Instagram.
The survey revealed that the number of people that are actually planning special trips to get a selfie with an erupting volcano (natural selection has failed us).
In fact, the number of individuals that arrange special trips with the sole aim of getting a selfie next to a hellishly hot volcano, is on the rise.
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bp7tYGxBr_G/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
Iceland is a hot spot for such folk given the abundance of geological activity.
University of Cambridge geographer Amy Donovan raised concerns that most ‘volcano tourists’ know nothing about the impact of the volcanic eruptions on the neighboring areas.
Instead of admiring this force of nature from afar, these tourists often get too close. That turns any vacation into a nightmare given how these unaware Samaritans lack the training to remove themselves from such situations. Lava bomb, crackers (not the fun kind), poisonous fumes and the rest only look exciting through a camera lens. In real life though, some people can even get trapped between lava streams, not to mention geysers.
“You can breathe the gas, hear the sounds the earth is making. They want to get closer to feel the power of the earth,”
Even at a safe distance the impact can be fatal. One needs to remember Pompeii and what happened to that place due to volcanic eruptions.
It’s one thing to put yourself at risk (and that too for more followers). But putting others’ lives in danger? This is what happens when your followers decide to partake in some volcano tourism.
“When things go wrong for tourists who are close to volcanoes, it of course puts the lives of rescuers at risk, too”
The problem is that while countries with active volcanoes don’t mind the tourism, they’re struggling to keep these sort of tourists safe.
Despite police efforts and warnings, Hawaiian authorities had to arrest several people for getting to close to the erupting Kilauea volcano and its’ flow. While residents fled for safety, tourists flew in for photographs.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BkvnTHegCEQ/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
On the other hand, volcano or no volcano India straight up banned taking selfies at popular tourist spots that are prone to accidents. Even we Pakistanis aren’t that far behind when it comes to most deaths caused by selfies during the past few years.
Hope better sense prevails.
