Quake of magnitude 4.5
Further evacuations on the volcanic island of La Palma
Military forces remove black ash from the volcano, which continues to eject lava behind the small church on the Canary Island of La Palma. Photo: Saul Santos / AP / dpa
© dpa-infocom GmbH
The Cumbre Vieja gives no rest. There have been several other light tremors, one has reached a magnitude of 4.5. Another 300 people had to get to safety.
Because of the approaching lava, the authorities on the volcanic island of La Palma have ordered the evacuation of around 300 people.
This increased the number of people who had to get to safety from the consequences of the volcanic eruption to more than 7,000, as the state TV broadcaster RTVE reported on Thursday. At the same time, around 100 more light to medium earthquakes were registered. One had a strength of 4.5 and was thus the most violent since the eruption of the volcano on September 19.
In the afternoon there were spectacular pictures when the funnel of the volcano overflowed and large amounts of lava flowed over its rim. However, experts stressed that this is a normal occurrence from time to time, as RTVE reported. The lava will probably flow towards the sea on its previous way without causing any new damage.
Since the northern flank of the volcanic cone collapsed last Saturday, the flow of lava through inhabited areas towards the sea has increased. The emerging lava was also around 1200 degrees hotter than before and therefore thinner and a little faster. The evaluation of the data from the European Earth observation system Copernicus has so far destroyed 1548 buildings by the lava and covered an area of 680 hectares with lava and ash. That corresponds to about 950 soccer fields. Nobody has been harmed so far.
According to the operator Aena, the island’s airport was still operational, but was only served by a few airlines such as Binter. Air traffic to the other major tourist islands in the Canaries – Tenerife, Fuerteventura, Gran Canaria or Lanzarote – ran normally.