Tourists flock to the island of Palma to shoot fiery lava from the volcano. At the same time, the Canary authorities announced additional evacuation of residents of several areas. People are asked to take all important documents, belongings and pets with them. It is possible that they will have nowhere to return. The Cumbre Vieja volcano is becoming more and more aggressive. Now he began to spew rocks more than 2 million years old, according to volcanologists. These are deposits that were on the seabed even before the island was formed.
The spectacle, indeed, impressive, agreed a local resident Lyudmila Zeltman: “If the wind blows from the mountains, it blows a dirty cloud of dust into the sea, and then very beautiful shots are obtained. The road is close enough, it is convenient to take pictures. People either arrive in the morning by plane, or arrive by ferry, take pictures, drink coffee on the other side of the island and tell beautiful stories about how good it is with us. That is, these are short excursions without an overnight stay at the hotel. The local population now has nowhere to evacuate – everything is jammed here. Those who have friends on other islands, of course, move if possible. And those who are evacuated set up tent camps, because the other part for 2 thousand people is already occupied. “
The houses, which are even a few kilometers from the epicenter of the eruption, are covered with volcanic ash. Residents are forced to clean their yards and streets with shovels every day. Lava has already burned down four villages and destroyed over a thousand homes. The last time Cumbre Vieja erupted was exactly 50 years ago. Then the photographer died, who came too close to the lava and suffocated in pairs.
Local guide to the islands Denis Peslyak says that he refuses tourists, although there are requests for extreme excursions: “Mostly Ukrainians and Balts are going, Russians are not allowed, because they do not recognize our vaccine and do not open tourist visas. Of ours, only those who have summer cottages and residences here come.
I myself thought to go to see, but when I saw these crying people and the granny who says: “For you, this is all a beautiful picture, but my whole life has collapsed,” something trembled in me and I did not go.
There is also a very high beautiful valley, from where this eruption can be seen from any place. From Santa Cruz there is a tunnel, there you enter the valley of Los Llanos de Aridane, and you can already see the volcano. It is not necessary to come close to it, it can be seen from both 5 km and 10 km. Naturally, the nearest zone to it is fenced off by the police and security services, but the eruption can be seen from almost anywhere in this valley. So if you want to see, please. “
In recent days, seismic activity has increased on Palma. Dozens of earthquakes with a magnitude of about 4.5 have been recorded. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez warned that, according to all forecasts, the volcano will not calm down in the coming days. Tourists who go to the island at such a time, the head of the club of intelligent adventurers “Edge of the World” Vladimir Zaitsev calls madmen:
“To feel this, you have to get closer, dodge this bomb – a piece of molten lava close up – this is extreme. You can, of course, look from the outside, throw out the money, but you will not experience true emotions when everything inside breaks off, you understand that you are a grain of sand, nothing, and the element is everything. When the earth trembles under you, and you sit in this tent and understand that at any moment it can either explode, or a bomb of molten lava will fly in and hit you, you feel your complete defenselessness, you will not do anything, you will not run away, you will not fly away.
Only unprepared and incomprehensible people can dream of sticking out there.
I recommend staying away from erupting volcanoes and instead of Palma, pay attention to our Kamchatka, the Kuriles. There are much more interesting volcanoes, and they are puffing, but not so dangerous now. “
The Cumbre Vieja volcano began to erupt on September 19. About 7 thousand people were evacuated from the island, no one was injured. Scientists believe that the active eruption process will last at least 80 days. The head of the Canary Islands government calls it “the largest volcanic disaster in Europe in the last 100 years.” The Spanish authorities will allocate € 200 million to the affected region for recovery.
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