• Live Volcano on La Palma

  • Stories The eviction of a house surrounded by lava: "We risk our lives like pigs"

The eruption of the Cumbre Vieja volcano, on the Canary Island of La Palma, could end up destroying around 1,000 homes, as the lava continues to spread and devastate everything in its path.

This was estimated yesterday by the experts who are evaluating the situation on the ground, although it is true that

the evolution of the volcanic eruption is unpredictable

, both in its duration and in terms of the amount of material that it will end up expelling, which devastates everything as it passed in its relentless descent towards the sea.

“Before we were uncertain about when and where the eruption would occur.

With those two uncertainties we are done.

Now what remains is the how.

In an eruptive process we can have different phases, where

the eruptive dynamics can change in a matter of minutes or hours

", indicates Stavros Meletlidis, a volcanologist at the National Geographic Institute (IGN) who has been working on the ground for 10 days.

"Unfortunately, there is such a forecast", confirmed yesterday the president of the Cabildo de la Palma, Mariano Hernández Zapata, referring to the thousand houses that "could bury" the lava. Speaking to Cope Canarias, he clarified that the figure comes from "estimates that have been given from different entities", although he added that there is "a slight hope" that the magma "

slows down its advance and does not reach

as

much

as could be expected."

Last night, as the lava tongue approached the sea, the number of houses destroyed in its path already amounted to more than 180, while the number of people who had to be evacuated exceeded 6,500. The lava mass, which is deforming and spreading as it approaches the coast, already

occupied 103 hectares in the west of the island

, where the terrain has deformed about 25 centimeters as a result of the magmatic pressure that generated the eruption. .

In total, 83,458 people live on the island, and there are a total of 42,088 registered homes. Of these, 19,779 are family homes in the five municipalities where the red traffic light was activated last Sunday, in which 39,594 people live. If the worst forecasts were met, the lava

could destroy one in every 20 houses in the area

made up of Fuencaliente, Los Llanos, El Paso, Tazacorte and Villa del Mazo, the towns that entered the highest level of alert when the volcano erupted. .

The advance of the lava has also affected many banana crops, a sector that provides 30% of employment on La Palma. In this sense, the Cabildo announced yesterday that it will request aid from the European Union after estimating that

the losses will exceed 400 million euros

, and asked the population not to travel with their vehicles on the island's roads, in order to avoid unnecessary risks and facilitate the movement of workers who are facing the crisis.

The activity of the volcano appears to have subsided on Tuesday, but that does not necessarily mean that it is fading. It could be rekindled at any moment. «Those changes in the eruptive dynamics exist. The most recent example is Iceland: it seemed that the activity had stopped and, after a week, it started again. The deep magmatic system is very complex; It is not the eruption of a stratovolcano, where we have a magma chamber, here

we have many ramifications and it would not be wise to talk about times,

”Meletlidis reasons.

Navigation is prohibited since Monday in the area of ​​the sea towards which the lava is directed, around which an area of ​​exclusion by land has also been created.

In contrast, La Palma airport continues to operate normally.

In fact, people who are working on the ground

expect tourists to arrive in the next few days

.

"It is an extreme phenomenon"

"It is an extreme phenomenon that affects lives and property," emphasizes Meletlidis. "If people come from outside who see it as a spectacle, rather than as an extreme phenomenon, it

may make the work a little difficult for all the people who are responsible for security,

" he warns. "You have to be aware that if someone dares to approach you, you have to understand that then the lives of the people who are going to save them are at stake."

At the moment, highlights the volcanologist, the response of the palm trees has been unbeatable. "I assure you that the people here, on the island, are the ones who have the most discipline, because some have lived through the 1949 eruption and, many of them, the 1971 eruption," he says. “On the management side, there was exemplary coordination among all: emergency security, State forces, forestry agents ...

We have had no victims, not even one injury

. And, on the other hand, the inhabitants have been very disciplined, always listening to the recommendations and paying attention. This is very important".

As detailed by Meletlidis yesterday at noon, the volcano had "decreased activity a little", although it continued to "emit ashes."

Volcanic material continued to fall to the west

, as the head of the lava tongue moved closer and closer to the sea.

By nightfall, the volcanic tremor, which indicates movement inside the volcano, had increased again ...

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Know more

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