A volcano has been simmering on La Palma for two weeks. While the residents are finally allowed to go outside again, another chimney is already showing.
La Palma – Almost two weeks after the eruption of a volcano on the Canary Island of La Palma, around 3800 residents of directly affected areas are allowed to leave their homes.
Due to an improvement in air quality, several curfews imposed in the past few days in the villages of Los Llanos, Tazacorte and El Paso in the south of La Palma were lifted on Saturday, reported the state television broadcaster RTVE, citing the responsible authorities of the Spanish island in the Atlantic the west coast of Africa.
Meanwhile, a new chimney was built on Saturday at the volcano in the Cumbre Vieja ridge. However, there is still no evidence that areas that have previously been spared from the lava flows are in danger, said the Canary Islands Volcanological Institute (Involcan). According to official reports, more than a thousand buildings have been destroyed by the lava, which has a temperature of around 1000 degrees. Around 6,000 residents in several villages were evacuated. “Here you see a lot of people crying all the time,” an older man told RTVE.
Meterdicke Lavaschicht
The area that is covered on La Palma with a black, meter-thick layer of lava, including parts of a cemetery, has now been corrected by the European Copernicus earth surveillance system to a good 367 hectares. On Friday there was talk of 709 hectares. According to the latest official information, more than 3,300 hectares are affected by the dark ash rain. That corresponds roughly to the area of a total of 4500 soccer fields.
La Palma, which is less known to tourists than other Canary Islands such as Tenerife, Gran Canaria, Fuerteventura or Lanzarote, was declared a disaster area on Tuesday. According to estimates by the regional government, the damage already amounts to several hundred million euros. The banana cultivation, which is immensely important for the island and from which around half of the approximately 85,000 inhabitants live directly or indirectly and which was already in crisis before the volcanic eruption, is particularly hard hit.
With the first eruption since 1971, the nameless volcano has been emitting large amounts of rocks, lava, smoke and ash almost continuously since September 19. Even experts cannot say how long it will remain active. It could take weeks or months. dpa
