In pictures: The volcanic eruptions of the year 2021

A year in fusion!

From the eruption of the Cumbre Vieja volcano in the Canaries, via Mount Semeru in Indonesia or the Nyiragongo volcano in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, 2021 has been marked by strong volcanic activity.

An impressive sight for the eyes, which sometimes leads to humanitarian disasters.

While the eruptions of Etna, Italy, or Mount Fagradalsfjall, Iceland, did not cause disasters, other volcanoes, such as in Indonesia or the Congo, have been fatal.

The 2021 retrospective, in pictures, in the lava flows.

Director:

• Etna, the highest active volcano in Europe (3350m) dominates Sicily, in southern Italy.

• In February, the volcano experienced a spectacular awakening that continued throughout the year, with major eruptions in August and October.

• The opportunity to admire the spectacle of its impressive lava fountains.

• On March 19, lava gushed out on the slopes of Mount Fagradalsfjall, in the Reykjanes peninsula (Iceland), about thirty kilometers southwest of the capital Reykjavik.

• Lava had not flowed for eight centuries in the Reykjanes peninsula, and for nearly 6,000 years where the eruption occurred, according to Icelandic vulcanologists.

• Relatively easy to access, the eruption has become a real tourist attraction, with more than 350,000 visitors according to the Icelandic tourist office.

• Officially ended on December 20 after three months without a lava flow, this eruption is now the longest on record in half a century.

  The lava poured out for exactly six months.

• The Nyiragongo volcano, overlooking the city of Goma in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), erupted on May 22.

• A lava flow has reached the edge of the city of Goma, causing panicked residents to flee en masse.

• At least 32 people have been killed and between 900 and 2,500 homes have been destroyed, or around 20,000 homeless or displaced.

• A lava flow came to rest in the suburbs northeast of Goma.

  A week later, nearly 400,000 people were evacuated in fear of a second, more powerful eruption, sparking a humanitarian crisis.

• In Hawaii, the Kilauea volcano, one of the most active in the world, erupted on September 29.

• The area of ​​its lava lake reached 59 hectares on October 28.

  The eruptions that regularly rock Kilauea since the 1950s have made it a popular destination for tourists.

• At the end of October, a strange wave of pumice stones swept over the coast of Okinawa Prefecture in Japan.

• A layer of up to 30 centimeters of stones has gathered on the beaches and in the ports.

• These stones come from an underwater volcanic eruption dating from August, off the Ogasawara Islands in the Pacific Ocean, 1,500 kilometers from the Okinawa archipelago in southern Japan.

• On December 4, the Indonesian volcano Semeru, the highest peak on the island of Java culminating at 3,676 meters, erupted.

• A cloud of ash and hot mudslides swept through the surrounding villages, causing thousands of distraught residents to flee.

• In photos, whole streets can be seen filled with piles of gray ash and mud, covering trucks or houses up to the roof.

• The latest death toll was at least 39 in the eruption.

• Indonesia sits on the Pacific "ring of fire" where the meeting of the continental plates causes high seismic activity.

  This Southeast Asian archipelago has nearly 130 active volcanoes on its territory.

• We end our world tour of the emblematic eruptions of the year with that of the Cumbre Vieja volcano in the Canaries, probably the most publicized in 2021.

• The eruption of the Cumbre Vieja volcano, in La Palma,

  debuted on September 19.

  It is the first for 50 years on this small island located in the Canary Islands archipelago (Spain) in the Atlantic Ocean.

• The eruption, the longest the island has seen, destroyed at least 1,345 homes and covered 1,237 hectares.

• Some 7,000 people have had to leave their homes in the valley towns affected by the lava flows.

• The ash spat out by the volcano has created an apocalyptic landscape of black color.

• The solidified lava nibbles 48 hectares on the sea.

• After three months, the volcanic eruption on the Spanish island of La Palma appears to be drawing to a close, and could be considered officially over if the observed inactivity continues until Christmas.

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