Explosion at La Soufriere on Tuesday night
(By Ernesto Cooke) – The activity at La Soufriere will continue with periodic explosions, says Geologist Richard Robertson.
Robertson speaking on NBC Radio on Wednesday 14 April, said the gap between eruptions would increase, and it is conceivable at some point that the explosions would stop and a period of quiet will begin.
“Now we don’t think that has ended yet, and even though the quiet period goes for a long time, I don’t think we would be convinced that it has ended, and it’s possible at some point, new explosions could occur”.
On Wednesday, the UWI SRC said small long-period earthquakes gradually increased in number after the explosive activity at 6:30 am on 13 April. These continued until another episode of explosive action started at 8:30 pm on 13 April.
The Seismic Research Centre says the explosions that occurred pulsed for 40 minutes and produced pyroclastic density currents (PDCs), which appear to have gone down valleys that drain towards the Rabacca River, along the east coast of the island.
Robertson, on Wednesday 14th, said La Soufriere in this ongoing eruption has operated remarkably.
“How it has built up, playing out its eruption, has provided so much warning that it’s unusual. Firstly, you had the dome building period or the effusive eruptions, and then it had this activity of explosions with ash which trashed everything, followed by all these pyroclastic flows”.
Robertson said the pyroclastic flows did not go towards the west where most communities are; it went to the east, where mainly farming takes place, so now it’s slowly reoccupying the terrain to the east.
“The volcano is slowing putting materials all over itself and becoming bigger, which is what volcanoes do, and is therefore telling us if you are in those areas north of Rabacca, you would know by now it wants to come in your direction”.
It just a matter of time before it starts affecting communities further North, Robertson stated.
He said the Coast Guard will have a tough time heading back North now that there are pyroclastic flows; they would only have a window of time to operate.
On Tuesday, the Coast Guard removed twelve persons from the Northern community of Owia situated in the Red Zone.
The UWI SRC says Lahars were reported in the North-Eastern community of Sandy Bay on 13 April.
The research centre said explosions and accompanying ashfall of similar or larger magnitude are likely to continue to occur over the next few days impacting St. Vincent and neighbouring islands such as Barbados, Grenada, Saint Lucia.
The emergency operations are still ongoing, and 3,880 people were evacuated and are now in 87 public shelters. Also, 2,000 displaced people are hosted in private accommodations.
