We all know what happened in Pompeii but how did the public react to the news and is there any evidence of a response issued by the leaders of the Empire to the public like you would in modern day?
Just something that struck me today as you never hear about the reaction to it.
As far as I know there is no account of what the public, in general, thought of the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 CE. There is one main account of the eruption it self- Some letters from Pliny the Younger, who was saw the eruption and whose uncle- Pliny the Elder- helped in rescuing people near the volcano and died. This tells us what happened, but not really the reaction to the devastation.
The best I can give you is an account of how the emperor, Titus, reacted to the eruption:
He chose by lot, from amongst the men of consular rank, commissioners for repairing the losses in Campania. The estates of those who had perished by the eruption of Vesuvius, and who had left no heirs, he applied to the repair of the ruined cities.
Luckily Titus proved to be a good emperor and he reacted with relief efforts to help rebuild what was lost. 79 CE proved to be a pretty bad year as there was a great fire in Rome and a plague. Titus worked hard to repair and save the people he could, according to Seutonius.
Beyond that we can merely speculate that the people of the empire were shocked by the news and, like all people throughout history, sought to find solace were they could.