Volcanoes that have been quiet for decades are coming to life in the eastern Caribbean, prompting officials to issue alerts in Martinique and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, while scientists are rushing to study what they say has not happened. observed in years.
The latest warning was issued on Tuesday night for the La Soufriere volcano in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, an island chain that hosts more than 100,000 people. Authorities reported tremors, strong gas emissions, the formation of a new volcanic dome and changes in its crater lake.
The Caribbean Disaster Management Agency said scientists noticed an “effusive eruption inside the crater, with visible gases and vapors,” on Tuesday.
The government has warned those living near the volcano to prepare to evacuate if necessary, declaring an orange alert which means the eruptions could occur less than 24 hours earlier.
La Soufriere, located near the northern tip of the main island of Saint Vincent, last erupted in 1979, and a previous eruption in 1902 killed about 1,600 people. This happened shortly before Mount Pelée in Martinique erupted and destroyed the city of Saint-Pierre, killing more than 30,000 people.
Mount Pelee was also active again in early December, and officials in French Caribbean territory issued a yellow alert for seismic activity below the mountain. It was the first such alert since the last eruption of the volcano in 1932, Fabrice Fontaine of the Seismological Observatory and the Martinique Volcano 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.
“It’s not like a volcano will start to erupt and others will,” he said. “It falls into the category of coincidence.”
He claimed that the activity is evidence that magma lurks underground and leaks to the surface, although he added that scientists still do not have a good understanding of what controls how fast this 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 on 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 found on 11 islands, with the remaining two being underwater near the island of Grenada, including one called Kick ‘Em Jenny which has been active in recent years.