Earthquakes shake Spanish island as rivers of lava flow into the sea

Several small earthquakes shook the Spanish island of La Palma off northwest Africa, keeping nerves on edge as rivers of lava continued to flow toward the sea Tuesday and opened a new vent at the mountainside.

After moving downhill across the island’s countryside since the volcano erupted on Sunday, lava is gradually closing in on the more densely populated coast.

Officials said a river of lava hit the Todok district, where more than 1,000 people live and where emergency services are preparing for evacuations.

About 6,000 people have been evacuated in La Palma so far and 183 homes have been damaged, government spokeswoman Isabel Rodriguez said after a cabinet meeting in Madrid.

“The reality is that seeing people lose their possessions is a tragedy,” said municipal worker Fernando Diaz in El Paso town, though he noted that people were also suffering from not knowing the fate of their homes as police prevented people from accessing them. lava flows.

“For the lucky ones, they will have some peace of mind knowing that their homes have not been affected,” he said. “This uncertainty is complicated.”

The new vent is located 900 meters (3,000 feet) north of the Cumbre Vieja mountain range, where the volcano first erupted after a week of thousands of small earthquakes.

The so-called earthquake swarm gave the authorities a warning of the possibility of a volcanic eruption and allowed the evacuation of several people, avoiding casualties.

The new fissure opened after what the Canary Islands Volcanological Institute said was a 3.8-magnitude earthquake late Monday.

La Palma, which has a population of about 85,000, is part of the volcanic Canary Islands.

Lava as of Tuesday covered 106 hectares (about 260 acres) of terrain, according to the European Union’s Earth observation programme, Copernicus.

Unstoppable rivers of lava, up to six meters (about 20 feet) high, rolled down the hillsides, burning and crushing everything in their path.

The head of the regional government of the Canary Islands, Angel Victor Torres, said that the authorities will request financial assistance from the European Union to help rebuild.

He said damages have already amounted to more than 400 million euros ($470 million), which would qualify the archipelago for emergency aid from the European Union.

He described the area as a “disaster area” and said he would ask for money to rebuild roads and water supply networks and create temporary accommodation for families who lost their homes as well as their farmland – and sometimes their livelihoods.

Spain’s King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia are scheduled to visit the affected area on Thursday.

Authorities said the pace of lava’s progress appears to have slowed and they did not expect it to reach the sea before Wednesday at the earliest, Spanish private news agency Europa Press reported.

When they reach the Atlantic Ocean, they can cause explosions and produce clouds of poisonous gases. Scientists observing the lava have measured its temperature at more than 1,000 degrees Celsius (more than 1,800 degrees Fahrenheit).

Scientists say the lava flows may last for weeks or months. The Institute of Volcanology said the volcano emits between 8,000 and 10,500 tons of sulfur dioxide per day.

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