IN IMAGES, IN PICTURES – Begun on September 19, this eruption is the longest the island has known. Despite its duration, it caused no deaths, but caused enormous damage.
It took a little over three months for the Cumbre Vieja volcano to fall back to sleep: the eruption on the Spanish island of La Palma, which caused considerable damage, officially ended on Saturday.
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“Today the scientific committee can say it (…) the eruption is over», Announced Julio Pérez the director of the volcanic emergency plan of the Canaries (Pevolca) during a press conference on Saturday. “There is no lava, no significant gas emission, no significant earthquakes“, Enumerated the person in charge, recalling that this eruption lasted”85 days and 18 hours»Since September 19.
It took ten consecutive days without visible sign of volcanic activity, a time required according to scientific experts, to be able to say that the episode was over, while the end of the eruption has been felt several times in the last three months, before to resume each time a few days later, to the dismay of the inhabitants of the island.
Now Cumbre Vieja is in lethargy, its lava torrents are black, frozen, hardened, and a layer of black sand – ash – has settled like a veil over the place. It will take years, if not a decade, to clean up, clear away, rebuild and reclaim this disfigured land.
Experts have already warned that the area will remain dangerous for some time to come due to persistent toxic gas emissions and the fact that the lava will take a long time to cool. Not to mention the risk of land collapse.
Volcanic activity is inscribed in the history of La Palma, which, like the other six islands of the Canary Archipelago – located in the Atlantic Ocean, off the northwestern coast of Africa – is volcanic origin.
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No death
However, it was the longest eruption the island has known: started on September 19, it was the first for 50 years, after those of the San Juan volcano in 1949 and the Teneguia in 1971.
Despite its duration and the impressive images of the molten lava flows, it did not kill anybody, but caused enormous damage: more than 7000 people were evacuated, among whom approximately 600 still live in hotels, and near 3000 buildings were destroyed.
The lava covered 1250 hectares of the area of the island and even enlarged it: the flows which reached the sea solidified and gave birth to two peninsulas, adding to the area of the island 44 ha for the ‘one and 5 ha for the other, according to the latest data provided by local authorities.
At the height of the episode, the volcano spat out thousands of gallons of lava, producing bubbling, fluorescent flows that rolled down the mountain, all in a constant roar.
The 83,000 inhabitants of La Palma will not forget the earthquakes, nor the ash rains, nor the toxic gases or the smoke escaping from the cone of the volcano which forced them to seal themselves sometimes for several days. The homes had to be evacuated in haste, sometimes coming back to pick up animals and personal effects a few days later.
Sunken villas or buildings, roads disappearing under lava flows and spectacular jets of salt water when the lava entered the sea: the activity of the volcano has punctuated Spanish television news for weeks on end.
Rebuild or leave
Three months of paralysis, with regular air traffic interruptions and the closure of La Palma airport, on this small island heavily dependent on tourism. The lava has also done a lot of harm to the banana plantations, the other key sector of the local economy, since it accounts for 50% of its GDP.
Of the 70,000 hectares of the island, 10% are devoted to agriculture, mainly to the cultivation of bananas (43%), according to the foundation World Biosphere Reserve of La Palma. The damage could exceed 900 million euros, according to local authorities.
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The Spanish government, whose leader Pedro Sánchez has visited the site on numerous occasions, has pledged 225 million euros in aid intended in particular to build housing and buy basic necessities, as well as to direct subsidies to farmers and fishermen. Madrid also called on the European Commission to activate the European Union solidarity fund.