The authorities of the Spanish island of La Palma, in the Canary archipelago, on Tuesday, November 23, lifted the confinement of about 3,000 people decreed the day before for fear of toxic fumes, after a lava flow in the sea from the volcano Cumbre Vieja. Since September 19, this volcano has erupted, forcing the island’s authorities to ask the inhabitants of Santa Cruz de la Palma to wear an FFP2 mask in order to protect themselves from sulfur dioxide fumes.
Until when will a state of emergency be declared? This is the question that all the inhabitants of La Palma ask themselves, and first and foremost the director of the Canary Islands Volcanic Emergency Plan (Pevolca), because Miguel-Angel Morcuende tells us, not without irony: “Until the volcano – he is the boss – tells us! We cannot know when the state of emergency will end. But for now, what we want is is that the end is coming! “
The emergency plan is based on the Spanish IGN to see more clearly. Ruben Lopez is one of his whistleblowers: “We also collect lava samples from the flow fronts while being at the mercy of any accident because we want to go to the area to study the phenomenon.”
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The eruption, the most serious in Europe for a century, destroyed almost 1,500 buildings, including nearly 1,100 homes. Unheard of in the Canaries since 1730. Something to alert the head of the Spanish government, Pedro Sànchez, who has been there for the seventh time. “The problem is that currently we do not have enough data to know whether the increase in seismicity means that there is new activity in the inner layer of the bark., explains Nieves Sanchez, of the Geological and Mining Institute. It may be a readjustment, as a result of the strain she has undergone. But it can also be a new arrival of magma at this level, with more activity. But we can’t prove it for some time. “
But the monitoring of the volcano does not prevent thinking of the 700 million euros of damage. “Then begins a whole process of reconstruction which is much more important than all the previous process – if not more important, but even more difficult., says Miguel-Angel Morcuende. We have to work in a territory that has completely changed, but above all, is completely destroyed. “ And if the million euros in donations are redistributed by the Cabildo, the island council of La Palma, institutional aid is still pending