I have a sneaking suspicion it's another one of those cognitive biases - get off a boat onto land and you feel safer. even if the boat will still be floating years after the land is.

You would be a fool to try the match trick in your apartment, but on an island? we just don't have that much experience of the earth blowing up around us.

then again the group of people who are first onto a volcanic island that popped out of the sea are a pretty self selecting bunch of foolhardy idiots :-)