Volcanoes that have been silent for decades are coming to life in the eastern Caribbean, prompting officials to issue alerts in Martinique and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines as scientists rush to study activity they say is not being respected. years ago.
The latest warning was issued on Tuesday for the La Soufrière volcano in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, a row of islands that host more than 100,000 people. Officials reported tremors, strong gas emissions, the formation of a new volcanic dome and changes in its crater.
The Caribbean Disaster and Emergency Management Agency said on Tuesday that scientists had observed “an effusive eruption in the crater with visible gas and steam.”
The government has warned that those living near the volcano should prepare to evacuate if necessary, declaring an orange alert. This means that the eruption could occur less than 24 hours before.
La Soufriere is located on the northern tip of the main island of San Vicente, and last erupted in 1979 and 192, when it killed 1,600 people.
This would have happened right after the eruption of Mount Pelée volcano in Martinique and left more than 30,000 people dead.
Mount Pelée is also now active again. In early December, officials in French Caribbean territory issued a yellow alert due to seismic activity under the mountain. It was the first such alert since the last eruption of the volcano in 1932, Fabrice Fontaine of the Martinique Volcanic and Seismological Observatory told the Associated Press.
While the eastern Caribbean is a long chain of active and extinct volcanoes, volcanologist Erik Klemetti of Denison University in Ohio said the activity on Mount Pelée and La Soufrière is unrelated.
While the eastern Caribbean is a long chain of active and extinct volcanoes, volcanologist Erik Klemetti of Denison University in Ohio said the activity on Mount Pelée and La Soufrière is unrelated.
“It’s not like a volcano is starting to erupt that others will,” he said. “It falls into the category of coincidence.”
He said the activity is evidence that magma lurks underground and drips to the surface, although he added that scientists still do not understand very well what controls how fast it happens.
“The answers are not entirely satisfactory,” he said. “Science is still being investigated.”
Klemetti said the most active volcano in recent years in the eastern Caribbean was the Soufriere Hills in Montserrat, which has erupted continuously since 1995, destroying the capital Plymouth and killing at least 19 people in 1997.
Seventeen of the 19 living volcanoes in the eastern Caribbean are on 11 islands, and the remaining two are underwater near the island of Grenada, including one called Kick ’em Jenny which has been active in recent years.