The world has been following the eruption of the volcano on the Canary Island of La Palma for over two months. A balance between statistics, records, fascination and horror.
La Palma – The volcano on the Cumbre Vieja of La Palma has spewed out more than 10 million cubic meters of pyroclastic material, i.e. lava, ash, gases since its eruption on September 19th *. An achievement that, just in time for his two-month “birthday”, qualifies him to be a volcano of size 3, one level higher than before, on a scale that goes up to 8. It doesn’t become any more dangerous, emphasize the experts from Involcán and Pevolca.
The numbers that the volcano on La Palma delivers after two months * are impressive. It is the longest volcanic eruption on the Iberian Peninsula since the eruption of El Charco in 1712, also on La Palma and the eighth longest since there are reliable records. Timanfaya in Lanzarote holds the Iberian marathon record with 2,055 days, i.e. over five and a half years.
Volcano on La Palma: balance sheet of the eruption
Since the eruption, 5,100 earthquakes have been registered on the island of La Palma, the strongest with 5.1 on the Richter scale, especially on the last Friday, just on November 19th, as if the volcano wanted to celebrate its two-month anniversary with a special flourish. The energy released by the volcano corresponds to the energy needs of all of Spain every 48 hours. Anyone who one day can specifically harness the forces of the earth’s interior would earn more than a Nobel Prize. At the same time, the volcano on La Palma released as much sulfur dioxide in two months as the polluters of the entire European Union did in one year.
As of Thursday, November 18, the lava covered 1.4 percent of the area of La Palma, 1,040.5 hectares, explains the Involcán research group. The furthest extent of the crater is 53 kilometers. Since the lava first reached the sea on September 28, it has wrested a delta of 42.8 hectares of new land, still inhospitable land to be sure.
“The volcano does what it wants,” explains Ivolcán. Although “it has lost energy,” adds María José Blanco from the Instituto Geográfico Nacional (IGN), the craters still have explosive potential, tend to collapse and so new lava flows can arise or change direction. The researchers are currently observing 12 currents, and none of them dares to predict when the volcano will calm down when they are less explosive.
7,000 of the 85,000 inhabitants of La Palma had to leave their apartments, houses, shops and fields because of the volcanic eruption *. First and most severely affected were the El Paraíso district of El Paso and parts of Las Manchas. The lava flows then passed through Los Llanos de Aridane, El Pedregal, Todoque, alone with 1,500 inhabitants, Los Campitos, Callejón de la Gata. The rescue and evacuation operation can be considered exemplary, also because the volcanologists sounded the alarm early on due to several earthquakes in the run-up to the eruption.
Damage from the volcanic eruption on La Palma amounts to over 900 million euros
After two months of activity, the volcano destroyed 1,184 houses of 2,120 registered people, according to the land registry office of the island government of La Palma. Another 5,000 people currently have no access to their houses, some of which have been destroyed, at least damaged, but almost always inaccessible, the cooling lava masses pile up to a height of 30 meters and meter-thick mountains of ash make access impossible. Around 1,000 commercial and community buildings are added to the damage balance, as well as stables, warehouses, shops and transformer houses, including two churches.
Many of the evacuees still live in makeshift arrangements today. Even those who were lucky enough to be staying with friends or family are often anything but happy. “Where previously four lived, there are now nine people, and that is not possible without conflicts”. “People need a place for themselves, be it just to cry”, is how those affected describe their situation on Spanish television, at the same time overwhelmed by the helpfulness of many people and dejected at the loss of their livelihoods.
The island government initially had to accommodate a total of 438 evacuees in hotels, schools and sports halls. The way out of these shelters is not an easy one. Both the central government in Madrid and Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez as well as the island government of the Canary Islands had announced that they would buy or rent private living space in order to then give it to those affected at reasonable prices, “but in practice it is not that easy, the rents on the island of La Palma have exploded, with an income of 900 euros a month I can’t afford an apartment here, “says 33-year-old Luz on television. 900 euros are too little to rent, but too much to get direct help. More and more people are leaving the island of La Palma forever.
It’s not just about apartments, but also about business, especially banana growers of the “plátanos de canarias”, the famous Canarian bananas *, which only survived through EU subsidies, have lost their plantations, the harvest is gone, as are the irrigation systems . The banana farmers in the Canaries are used to crises *. Other farms have also been destroyed.
Ángel Víctor Torres, President of the Canary Islands’ island government, estimates the economic damage so far (as of November 19) at a total of 906 million euros, which is more than two percent of the annual economic output (GDP) of all the Canary Islands. An order of magnitude that gives the Canaries access to the European Union’s emergency and solidarity fund.
Reconstruction on La Palma: agriculture, housing, tourism
The reconstruction will be a long one: 66 kilometers of roads alone are unusable, but without them, no help will get anywhere. This Saturday, November 20th, Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez was for the fourth time since the volcanic eruption on La Palma. Again and again he speaks of the “aid packages” for all sectors, work programs, aid for agriculture, tourism, new water pipes, tax rebates. Sáchez ‘packages include around 206 million euros, 40 million come from the regional government of the Canary Islands, 10.5 million for the housing problem, 100 million euros have been pledged for reconstruction in 2022, around 7.5 million euros in private donations were made. That is around 360 million euros by the end of next year, how much comes from the EU, La Palma does not yet know. So far, the island has been left with around 550 million euros in damage.
While thousands have to leave their homes or fight and fear for their existence, tourists enjoy the natural spectacle of the volcano on La Palma *. The island government wanted it that way, because after all, tourists mean income and the politicians did not only want to send the image of a catastrophic desert La Palma into the world. Visits to the volcano on La Palma bring some entrepreneurs money, but nothing for those affected, at most traffic jams and even higher prices, as our report on volcano tourism on La Palma shows.
This weekend around November 21st, the airport of La Palma was closed again because of the ash cloud. And the ash is also the witness of the eruption across the island and almost everyday. Nearly. Because a man died last week when a roof collapsed while sweeping ashes. The first fatality of the volcano on La Palma. * costanachrichten.com is an offer from IPPEN.MEDIA
Rubriklistenbild: © Kike Rincón / EUROPA PRESS / dpa
