La Palma The volcano has seven eruptive mouths and the lava does not advance rapidly
Live Eruption on La Palma, latest news
The eruption that had been feared for days on
La Palma
occurred this Sunday at 3.15pm.
With a strombolian-type eruption (by the
Stromboli
volcano
),
characterized by explosions alternated with periods of calm,
Cumbre Vieja
began to eject tons of lava through eight mouths and two fissures separated by 200 meters from each other.
In the municipalities closest to
the Cumbre Vieja Natural Park,
residents were already alert after experiencing thousands of small earthquakes in a few days, in what geologists call a seismic swarm that made people fear that the lava was rising to the surface through the chimney of the volcano.
In little more than a week, some
25,000
have been registered
.
Finally, a few hours after the eruption began, numerous experts explained that the advance of the lava, not excessively fast (about 700 meters per hour), as well as the orography of the terrain, suggest that
the lava flows are heading to the sea
and that will not cause great damage to populations.
However, it is very likely that
forest fires will
be generated
,
as the area has a lot of vegetation.
Teams from
Involcan (the Volcanological Institute of the Canary Islands)
stationed in the area have been able to take thermal images of the streams and determine that they have a temperature of
1,075 degrees Celsius.
BORJA SUAREZREUTERS
On Sunday night, some 5,000 people from
Los Llanos, El Paso and Tazacorte
had already been evacuated
due to the risk that the lava would leave them incommunicado.
In addition, 50 people with reduced mobility were transferred to the
El Fuerte
barracks
,
cared for by the medical teams, with the support of the
Army
and
Red Cross
personnel
.
In addition, the Canarian Government requested the intervention of the UME.
The battalion of this military unit in
Los Rodeos (Tenerife)
left on a ship for La Palma around 9:30 p.m. to join the emergency device.
In the next few hours, evacuations are expected to reach several thousand residents.
The Civil Guard, for example, began to evacuate the population from the beginning of the evacuation of the neighborhoods of
Tacande, Todoque, La Bombilla, La Laguna, El Remo
and
Puerto Naos,
belonging to the municipalities of
El Paso, Los Llanos de Aridane
and
Tazacorte,
in anticipation of the advance of the lava tongue.
The Armed Institute estimated that
between 5,000 and 10,000 people
will be evacuated
.
The Ministry of Education, Universities, Culture and Sports of the Government of the Canary Islands announced that it is
suspending teaching activity
in all educational centers in the municipalities of El Paso, Los Llanos de Aridane and Tazacorte as a result of the eruption.
What was still open last night was the airspace, according to the public company Enaire, which still recommends being aware of the latest news and contacting the airline with which you plan to travel to the island.
"It hallucinates me and at the same time gives me a lot of fear,"
María del Pino Hernández,
one of the neighbors evacuated in Los Llanos de Aridane,
told
EFE, aware that she is witnessing "an incredible spectacle, which gives panic."
DESIREE MARTINAFP
The level of alert to the population, the so-called "traffic light"
went from amber to red
in just a few hours, and thus remained at the maximum alert level, which is the one that warns the population that there is a real risk to she.
In an eruption like this, as explained by the
CSIC volcanologist Joan Martín,
the explosive part is not very important and the
little pyroclast
(incandescent rocks that shoot out) that is observed will accumulate in the exit area.
The only
problem may be the gases
that escape with the magma and that can be derived from sulfur and CO2, the latter of which is not noticeable, but can
cause breathing problems.
Tomás Rodríguez, a
resident of Los Llanos, who lives a few kilometers from the place of the eruption, explained to EL MUNDO that "the situation at the moment is less serious than what is seen on television, because
the lava is flowing through a place where It was already again
years ago, and it is on its way to the sea without going through towns ".
According to him, "it is an area of badlands where almost nothing has been built, and for that reason there are hardly any chalets, some wineries and some wooden barracks almost on the sea."
He and his family
have not yet been told to evacuate.
Pedro Sánchez on La Palma
The President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, decided in the afternoon to postpone his planned trip to New York and traveled to the island of La Palma to learn first-hand about the situation caused by the Cumbre Vieja.
Shortly before midnight, the presidents of the town hall of La Palma,
Mariano Hernández Zapata,
and of the Canarian government,
Ángel Víctor Torres,
went out with Pedro Sánchez in his appearance.
They announced that at the moment no more evacuations are foreseen, and explained that the lava has already affected eight houses and worries the advance towards the coast.
Cumbre Vieja Volcano
"My presence compromises the support of the government of Spain to replace all the material losses that may occur," said Sánchez, who has asked the citizens of La Palma for reassurance.
This Monday he will remain on La Palma.
Sánchez has said that they are "in continuous communication with His Majesty the King", to whom they have been able to give first-hand information before appearing.
The new volcano that will emerge from the eruption this Sunday could contain between
17 and 20 million cubic meters of magma,
according to the President of the Government of the Canary Islands, Ángel Víctor Torres.
This amount far exceeds the 11 million cubic meters initially estimated by the technicians, but it represents less than half of the lava that the
Teneguía
poured
in 1971: 43 million cubic meters.
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La Palma volcano
CienciaErupción La Palma, last minute live |
5,000 evacuees, eight houses affected by lava and fear of the advance towards the coast
GeologyMore than 4,000 earthquakes on the island of La Palma: why is a seismic swarm occurring?
ScienceThe volcano has seven eruptive mouths and the lava does not advance quickly
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