Canary Islands: Volcano erupts on La Palma, lava destroys homes

A volcano erupted Sunday on one of Spain’s Canary Islands, after a week of heightened seismic activity.

The volcano is located on La Palma, the fifth-largest island in the Spanish archipelago that sits in the Atlantic Ocean off the western coast of Morocco.

Local TV station Radio Television Canaria (RTVC) showed footage of red-hot lava and dust emanating from the Cumbre Vieja National Park in the south of the island.

Canary Islands regional President Angel Victor Torres told Spanish state broadcaster TVE that no injuries had been reported so far.

Local media reported that several isolated homes were destroyed by the lava flows.

The fire brigade was brought in to fight forest fires caused by the eruption.

Flights to and from the Canaries — which are popular with European tourists — were continuing as normal, airport operator Aena said.

• Spain: La Palma volcano erupts — in pictures

  Volcano ejects red-hot lava

  Sunday’s eruption on La Palma sent jets of lava and a plume of smoke and ash into the air from the Cumbre Vieja National Park. La Palma is the fifth-largest of Spain’s Canary Islands, which sit in the Atlantic Ocean, off the coast of Morocco.

• Spain: La Palma volcano erupts — in pictures

  Watching closely

  Huge red plumes topped with black-and-white smoke shot out along a volcanic ridge that scientists had been closely watching after heightened seismic activity on La Palma for days.

• Spain: La Palma volcano erupts — in pictures

  5 cracks identified so far

  A volcanologist told Spanish TV shortly after the eruption that there appeared to be five fissures in the volcano and at least two of them were spewing hot lava.

• Spain: La Palma volcano erupts — in pictures

  Residents ordered to leave

  More than 1,000 people whose homes are located close to the eruption zone were evacuated. Authorities asked the public to pack a small bag, their cellphone and identity documents in case they needed to leave at short notice.

• Spain: La Palma volcano erupts — in pictures

  Drones used to monitor eruption

  Scientists counted 22,000 tremors in the space of a week around Cumbre Vieja, ahead of the eruption. The team from the Geological Mining Institute of Spain used drones to monitor seismic activity.

• Spain: La Palma volcano erupts — in pictures

  Quiet for 50 years

  Cumbre Vieja is a mountain range and a chain of volcanoes that last had a major eruption in 1971, when one man was killed as he took photographs near the lava flows.

• Spain: La Palma volcano erupts — in pictures

  8 eruptions in 550 years

  La Palma has several volcanic craters, including San Antonio (pictured) but only Cumbre Vieja is active. The volcano has erupted eight times since Spanish records began in the 15th century. Along with Tenerife, La Palma is the most volcanically active of the Canary Islands.

• Spain: La Palma volcano erupts — in pictures

  La Palma from space

  A satellite image of La Palma shows the huge Caldera de Taburiente crater to the north. The Cumbre Vieja mountain range can be seen in the south and is where all recorded volcanic eruptions have occurred. La Palma is home to 83,000 people and, unlike the other Canary Islands, is not one of the popular tourist destinations.

  Author: Nik Martin

Evacuation operation underway

Emergency services immediately began to evacuate around 2,000 residents, authorities said, having started moving those with reduced mobility earlier in the day.

Spain’s Civil Guard said later it may need to evacuate up to 10,000 residents.

“People are asked to be extremely careful and to stay away from the eruption zone to avoid needless risk,” the government added.

Sunday’s eruption follows a series of earth tremors this week, measured at 3.8-magnitude, whose vibrations were felt on the surface.

More than 22,000 tremors were recorded in the area — one of the most active volcanoes in the Canary Islands.

A volcanologist told local media there appear to be five fissures, at least two of which are spewing a lot of ash

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez flew to La Palma on Sunday evening to see the eruption for himself.

Earlier, he said state organizations were ready to support La Palma “in a coordinated manner.”

Earlier eruptions lasted months

Itahiza Dominguez, head of seismology at Spain’s National Geology Institute, told RTVC that it was too early to tell how long this eruption would last.

He added that prior “eruptions on the Canary Islands lasted weeks or even months.”

La Palma has several volcanic craters including San Antonio (pictured)

Eruption area is sparsely populated 

The island of La Palma, one of several in the Canary Islands group, has around 83,000 residents.

Along with Tenerife, La Palma is the most volcanically active of the islands. 

Sunday’s eruption is the eighth since records began and the first on La Palma since 1971.

The last eruption on any of the Canary Islands occurred underwater off the coast of El Hierro island in 2011. That event lasted five months.

Unlike the better-known islands of Gran Canaria, Fuerteventura, Lanzarote and Tenerife, La Palma is not a popular tourist destination.

mm, jcg/jlw (Reuters, EFE)

Article source: https://www.dw.com/en/canary-islands-volcano-erupts-on-la-palma-lava-destroys-homes/a-59232657?maca=en-rss-en-all-1573-rdf