Canary Islands volcano: New vent opens, more people flee

At least 200 people were forced to flee their homes on Tuesday as a new fissure emerged in the erupting volcano on Spain’s Canary Islands.

The volcano on the island of La Palma erupted on Sunday after a week of seismic activity that progressed to a 3.8 magnitude quake.

The new vent is 900 meters (3,000 feet) north of the Cumbre Vieja national park, where the volcano first erupted. It emerged after a 4.1 magnitude earthquake late Monday, the Involcan volcanology institute said.

What has been the damage so far?

Rivers of lava, as much as six meters (nearly 20 feet) high, rolled down hillsides, burning and crushing everything in their path and affecting nearly 400 farms.

By Tuesday, lava had covered 103 hectares (about 260 acres) of terrain, according to the European Union’s Earth Observation Program, Copernicus.

So far, about 6,000 people on La Palma have been evacuated, and 183 houses damaged, government spokeswoman Isabel Rodriguez said after a Cabinet meeting in Madrid.

No casualties have been reported.

When will lava reach the sea?

Molten lava was expected to reach the sea by Monday, but its speed has slowed down. By Tuesday morning, the white-hot mass of molten rock, with a temperature of nearly 1,000 degrees Celsius (1,830 degrees Fahrenheit), had still not reached the western coast.

Volcanologist Stavros Meletlidis said it was not clear when it would reach the sea because its speed was “very variable.”

“It can accelerate very quickly, especially when the topography changes… or it can stop on a plain for several hours. You have to see how both the main flow and the secondary flow are developing,” he said.

Experts warn that when lava reaches the sea, it will generate clouds of toxic gas. 

• 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

How has the government reacted?

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said the crisis management on La Palma “does not end when the lava reaches the sea.”

“It will end when we rebuild all the damage caused by the eruption of the volcano,” Sanchez said, pledging to stand with those affected.

Authorities are seeking financial aid from the EU to help rebuild, said Angel Victor Torres, the head of the Canary Islands regional government.

Torres said the damage already amounted to more than €400 million ($470 million), qualifying the region for emergency EU aid.

fb/dj (AFP, AP, Reuters, EFE)

Article source: https://www.dw.com/en/canary-islands-volcano-new-vent-opens-more-people-flee/a-59253678?maca=en-rss-en-all-1573-rdf