Are Volcanoes a Blessing or a Curse

Are Volcanoes a Blessing or Curse?
Volcanoes are mountains, typically conical, where lava comes out from a magma chamber through a crater or a vent. There are two types of volcanoes; Composite and Shield. A composite volcano can be referred to as a cone volcano. These volcanoes have tall narrow cone and a wide base. Their magma chambers contain thick acidic lava, which means sometimes you can walk faster than the lava when it is moving! The layers of a cone volcano are usually alternated between lava and ash. A shield volcano usually has a wide cone and gentle slopes. The lava that is ejected during an eruption is thin due to it being basic (alkali).
At first thought, you would think a volcano to be a curse. This is because it spews out gallons and gallons of hot lava that can easily scorch you to death. Also a cone volcano has the capability of emitting something called a pyroclastic flow. This is a colossal, fast moving cloud of rock fragments, ash and gases. A pyroclastic flow will destroy nearly everything in its path. With rock fragments ranging in size from ash to boulders traveling across the ground at speeds typically greater than 80 km per hour, pyroclastic flows knock down, shatter, bury or carry away nearly all objects and structures in their way. In 1991, a volcano in the Philippines, in a small island Luzon, called Mt Pinatubo erupted and its pyroclastic flow killed over 700 people. When a volcano erupts one other thing that it ejects is ash. 1mm of ash is enough to close an airport. This ash can cover whole cities depending on the size of the eruption. The ash will cause crops to stop growing and inhaling the ash is poisonous.
However, you may be thinking why people would live anywhere near a volcano? There are many reasons, first of all is that it is their hometown and they have been living there for many years. It could be very difficult to leave a town where they have living there for many generations. Next, the volcanic ash that settles on the ground after an eruption is very fertile making it easier to grow crops. Also the volcano itself attracts lots of tourists due to its massiveness. There are lots of stone deposits from volcanic eruptions; this can be converted into quarries. Finally, there will be lots of natural vents near the volcano, in the ground which can be used to provide geothermal energy. This will give the town a source of electricity. Geothermal energy is a source of renewable energy. Water is pumped down to the magma in the vents, this causes steam to rise up, and the steam turns a turbine, which converts kinetic energy into electricity.
Overall, I think that the advantages weigh much more than the disadvantages. The town may get occasional eruptions but they would get a good source of energy, good source of money from the tourists and finally great fertile soil to grow crops. On the other hand, when there is a rare eruption, this could cause a lot of devastation and many innocent lives lost. All hard work like growing crops would be lost and the town would always have to start from scratch.