Volcanoes are surrounded by villages, towns, and polities that are constantly shifting location to benefit from the rich soils generated in the aftermath of eruptions, while, at the same time, avoiding the worst of their destructive potential. We explore the attraction of volcanoes in a Southeast Asian context through a comparative examination of the communities surrounding Mount Mayon in the Bicol peninsula of the Philippines and Gunung Awu on the island of Sangihe Besar in Indonesia. These volcanoes influence the location of settlements, forms of community identity, and the expression of cultural memories. We argue that risk awareness programmes that disregard the extent to which a volcano is embedded within the physical and mental fabric of a society and fail to connect to local historical cultural memory are likely to have little lasting effect on reducing people’s vulnerability.

火山被村庄，城镇和政区所包围，这些村庄，城镇和政区不断变化，以便从喷发后产生的肥沃土壤中受益，同时避免其破坏性的最坏情况。通过对菲律宾Bicol半岛的Mayon山周围的社区和印度尼西亚的Sangihe Besar岛上的Gunung Awu周围的社区进行比较研究，我们探索了东南亚对火山的吸引力。这些火山影响定居点的位置，社区身份的形式以及文化记忆的表达。