KINGSTOWN, St. Vincent – La Soufriere Volcano released an enormous amount of ash and hot gas early Monday in the largest explosive eruption since volcanic activity began on St. Vincent Island. Vincent in the eastern Caribbean at the end of last week, officials worried about the lives of those who refused to evacuate.
Experts called it a “huge explosion” that generated pyroclastic flows on the southern and southwestern flanks of the volcano.
“It destroys everything in its path,” Erouscilla Joseph, director of the University of the West Indies’s Seismic Research Center, told the Associated Press. “Anyone who did not consider the evacuation must leave immediately.”
There were no immediate reports of injuries or deaths, but government officials were struggling to respond to the latest eruption, which was even larger than the first eruption on Friday morning. About 16,000 people living in communities near the volcano were evacuated on Thursday under government orders, but an unknown number were left behind and refused to move.
Richard Robertson, along with the seismic research center, told local NBC Radio that the old and new volcano domes had been destroyed and a new crater had been created. He said the pyroclastic flows would have destroyed everything in their path.
“Everything was there, man, animal, everything … they’re gone,” he said. “And it’s a terrible thing to say.”
Joseph said that the last explosion is equivalent to the one that took place in 1902 and killed about 1,600. The volcano last erupted in 1979. The ash from the ongoing explosions fell on Barbados and other nearby islands.
A government minister who visited the island’s northeastern region on Sunday said he saw about two to 30 people still in the Sandy Bay community, prompting Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves to urge people to do so. leave.
“It’s time to leave,” he said. “It’s dangerous.”
Emergency management officials warned that they would arrest all those, residents or not, trapped in the red zone without police permission. The communities in the red zone are closest to the volcano.
Two young men, Codrian Simmons and Rashon Charles, were praised for their bravery in helping to evacuate about 115 people from endangered communities.
“The monstrous force of this volcano was an experience outside (this) world,” Simmons told AP, adding that the experience was traumatic and that people in shelters advocated for help and supplies, including water, dry goods, sheets and articles. of the toilet. “It’s a stiff heart!”
Ongoing volcanic activity has threatened to supply water and food, with the government having to drill fresh water and distribute it by truck.
“We can’t put the tarpaulin over a river,” said Garth Saunders, the island’s water and sewer authority minister, referring to the impossibility of trying to protect current water sources from falling ash.
He told NBC Radio that officials are also trying to set up water distribution points.
Meanwhile, Gonsalves said government officials are meeting Monday afternoon to discuss food supply difficulties.
Deputy Prime Minister Montgomery Daniel told the radio that the damage had spread to the northeastern region of the island, which he visited on Sunday. Forests and farms were wiped out, with coconuts, breadfruit, mango and soursop destroyed, as well as banana and banana crops.
“What I saw was really terrible,” he said.
Cots, tents, water tanks and other basic supplies were flooded in St. Vincent, while nearby nations rushed to help those affected by the eruptions. At least four empty cruise ships were floating nearby, waiting to evacuate to other islands that agreed to receive them temporarily, including Antigua and Grenada. However, Gonsalves said he expects his administration to give up cruise ships as the vast majority of people appear to remain in St. Louis. Vincent for now.
The only people evacuated from St. Vincent by cruise ship are 136 agricultural workers who are part of a seasonal agricultural program and who have been stranded on the island. The group was scheduled to fly to Canada, but their flight was canceled due to Friday’s blast. They arrived in St. Lucia on Saturday and will board a flight to Canada from there.
Gonsalves told NBC Radio on Sunday that his government will do everything possible to help those forced to abandon their homes in ash-filled communities.
“It’s a huge operation we’re facing,” he said. “It will be expensive, but I don’t want to raise money … it will be a long road.”
Gonsalves said it could take four months for life to return to normal in St. Louis. Vincent, part of an island chain that includes the Grenadines. Most of the 100,000 inhabitants live in St. Vincent.
Among them is Ranique Chewitt, a 32-year-old salesman who lives in South Rivers, located southeast of the volcano.
He did not have to evacuate, but said he was worried about his health and water supply and had not left home since the first eruption on Friday morning: “I am breathing dust and I am inside.”
The pandemic also complicates response efforts. At least 14 new cases of COVID-19 have been reported since the eruptions began on Friday and all those going to shelters are being tested. Those who test positive are taken to isolation centers. More than 3,700 people are in 84 government shelters.
The eastern Caribbean has 19 living volcanoes, 17 of which are on 11 islands. The other two are located underwater near Grenada, including one called Kick ‘Em Jenny which has been active in recent years. The most active volcano of all is Soufriere Hills in Montserrat, which has erupted continuously since 1995, destroying the capital Plymouth and killing at least 19 people in 1997.