The volcano on La Palma threatens to increase its destruction after four weeks of eruption

October 17, 2021

El delta creado por la lava del volcán ya tiene una extensión de unas 40 hectáreas, casi del tamaño de El Vaticano. — The delta created by the volcano’s lava already has an area of about 40 hectares, almost the size of the Vatican.

Photo: Marcos del Mazo / Getty Images

By: EFE 17 October 1971

The Cumbre Vieja volcano on the Spanish island of La Palma has reached full activity and threatens to increase its devastation, four weeks after the eruption began on 19 of September.

The technicians emphasize that new emission centers were not opened, although it is not ruled out that they may appear later, since the earth continues to tremble, with a magnitude maximum of earthquakes in the last hours of 4.3 degrees on the Richter scale, to 35 kilometers deep .

“ The volcano is in top shape . When the eruptions are near the end there is a general decrease of all the observable parameters, and we still do not see those signals , which does not mean that we will see them tomorrow ”, explained to EFE the director of the National Geophysical Observatory, Carmen López.

Impact in figures

Four weeks after the first eruption, the 19 of September, the sight of lava running along the slopes of the mountain and the high plume of smoke that gives off the volcano and which leaves a rarefied air on the island.

But as much as the specialists say that the evolution of the Cumbre Vieja volcano on La Palma is “normal” , the data continues to amaze that you have left in a month of activity.

The lava that the volcano spews non-stop, with more intensity even in recent days, occupied an area close to 750 hectares; destroyed nearly a thousand homes and more than 200 hectares of agricultural land , mainly banana trees, the main crop of La Palma, like the rest of the Canary Islands .

To this we must add more than 7, 000 people evacuated from their homes, although most The important thing is that, thanks to the deployment of scientific and emergency teams that have been working on the island for more than a month, not a single life , no one was injured.

Third casting with energy towards the sea

One of the three streams that emerged from the volcano has “energy and charge” to reach the sea , since it is about 200 meters from the west coast of the island, although scientists do not know when this event will happen.

This cast, advancing to 14 meters per hour with a temperature of 1, 270 degrees Celsius , as specified today by the Volcanological Institute of Canaries (Involcan), is one of the two with the most lava load, while the primal one is fed very weakly.

Before until it reaches the sea, the authorities will recommend the confinement of the population since the forecast is that once the lava reaches the sea they will occur ” small explosions ”and hydrochloric acid detachments , reported this Sunday the technical director of the Canary Islands Volcanic Emergency Plan (Pevolca), Miguel Ángel Morcuende .

S If it reaches the sea, it would be the second wash to do so, and the first one already created a lava delta on the coast of a surface of 36 hectares, almost like the Vatican State.

La Palma is a volcanic island, like the rest of the Canary archipelago, which in the last five centuries recorded 16 eruptions, concentrated on four islands: Tenerife, La Palma, El Hierro and Lanzarote .

The one known as “the beautiful island”, due to the greenness of its landscape, has suffered eight eruptions since there are records, including the current one; the previous one took place in 1971.

Impact in figures

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