Baghdad – IA
The authorities of the Spanish Canary Archipelago announced that the torrent of lava flowing from the Cumbre Vieja volcano, which has been erupting for 10 days on the island of La Palma, reached the sea on Tuesday-Wednesday night, warning of the danger of the emission of toxic gases as a result of the molten lava meeting with ocean water.
The Institute of Volcanic Sciences in the Canary Islands, Involcan, said in a tweet on Twitter shortly after midnight (Tuesday, 22:00 GMT) that “the torrent of lava reached the sea in Playa Nueva.”
The Cumbre Vieja volcano began erupting on September 19.
On Tuesday afternoon, the lava torrent was 800 meters from the waters of the Atlantic Ocean, but the speed of this torrent’s progress varied so much over the past few days that at some point it seemed to stop in place, which made it almost impossible to predict when the lava would meet the ocean waters. .
The meeting of volcanic lava with water raises the concern of experts because of the toxic gases and harmful particles that may be emitted when the molten lava extinguishes in the water.
For this reason, the local government in the archipelago issued a decision banning entry to the area where the lava torrent is expected to reach, defining this ban zone as “a circle with a radius of two nautical miles.”
On Tuesday, the authorities announced the allocation of 10.5 million euros to provide direct aid to the victims of the volcanic eruption, especially to enable them to buy alternative housing for their homes, which they saw disappearing before their eyes under the torrent of volcanic lava.
The authorities declared a state of natural disaster on this island, which has a population of 85,000 people. The volcanic eruption caused the destruction of 589 of its buildings (not all of them homes), while volcanic lava covered an area of 258 hectares of land.
La Palma Island lives mainly from banana cultivation and tourism.
The volcanic eruption did not result in deaths or injuries, but more than six thousand people were forced to evacuate their homes as a result.
2024-02-03 11:47:54