KINGSTOWN, St. Vincent (AP) – La Soufriere volcano erupted early Monday with a huge amount of ash and hot gas during the largest explosive eruption since volcanic activity began on the island of Saint Vincent, in the eastern Caribbean, late last week. the lives of those who have refused to evacuate.
Experts called it a “huge explosion” that generated pyroclastic flows along the south and southwest sides of the volcano.
“It is destroying everything in its path,” Erouscilla Joseph, director of the University of the West Indies Seismic Research Center, told The Associated Press. “Anyone who had not considered evacuation should leave immediately.”
There were no immediate reports of injuries or deaths, but government officials struggled to respond to the latest eruption, which was even larger than the first eruption that took place Friday morning. Approximately 16,000 people living in communities near the volcano had been evacuated on Thursday under government orders, but an unknown number have been left behind and refused to move.
Richard Robertson, with the seismic research center, told local NBC Radio that the old and new volcano dome have been destroyed and a new crater has been created. He said the pyroclastic flows would have swept everything in its path.
“Anything that was there, man, animal, anything … they’re gone,” he said. “And it’s a terrible thing to say.”
Joseph said the latest explosion is equivalent to the one that occurred in 1902 and killed about 1,600. The volcano last erupted in 1979. Ashes from ongoing explosions have fallen on Barbados and other nearby islands.
A government minister who toured the northeastern region of the island on Sunday said he saw that it is estimated that only two or three dozen people remained in the Sandy Bay community, prompting the prime minister Ralph Gonsalves urged people to leave.
“It’s been a while since you left,” he said. “It’s dangerous.”
Ongoing volcanic activity has threatened the supply of water and food, with the government forced to drill fresh water and distribute it by truck.
“We can’t put canvas on 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 the ashes that they fall.
He told NBC Radio officials are also trying to establish water distribution points.
Meanwhile, Gonsalves said government officials are meeting Monday afternoon to discuss difficulties with the food supply.
Deputy Prime Minister Montgomery Daniel told the station that the damage was significant in the northeastern region of the island, which he resorted to on Sunday. They wiped out forests and farms, destroying coconut trees, breadfruit, mango and guanabo, as well as banana and banana crops.
“What I saw was terrible,” he said.
Cots, tents, water tanks and other basic supplies were flooded in Sant Vicenç while nearby nations rushed to help those affected by the eruptions. At least four empty cruise ships floated nearby, waiting to take the evacuees to other islands that have agreed to receive them temporarily, including Antigua and Granada. Gonsalves, however, said he hopes his administration can cancel the cruises, as it looks like the vast majority of people are staying in Saint Vincent for now.
Sunday told NBC Radio that his government will do everything possible to help those forced to leave their homes in ash-filled communities.
“It’s a huge operation facing us,” he said. “It’s going to be expensive, but I don’t want us to pinch a penny … it’s going to be a long journey.”
Gonsalves said it could take four months of his life to return to normal in Sant Vicenç, part of a chain of islands that includes the Grenadines. Most of the 100,000 inhabitants live in Sant Vicenç.
The pandemic is also complicating response efforts. The eruptions began on Friday, at least 14 new cases of COVID-19 have been reported and all those going to shelters are being tested. Those who test positive are transferred to isolation centers. More than 3,700 people are in 84 government shelters.
The eastern Caribbean has 19 living volcanoes, 17 of which are found on 11 islands. The remaining two are underwater near Granada, including one called Kick ‘Em Jenny which has been active in recent years. The most active volcano of all is the Soufrière hills in Montserrat, which has erupted continuously since 1995, destroying the capital of Plymouth and killing at least 19 people in 1997.
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Coto reported from San Juan, Puerto Rico