Rowley in contact with scientists on La Soufriere eruption

The Prime Minister says he is in constant contact with experts, discussing Friday's eruption of the La Soufriere volcano in St Vincent.

Responding to questions from the Newsday, Dr Rowley said while he will continue to engage experts privately, he was unwilling to make any comments about the eruption.

The La Soufriere volcano erupted just before 9 am on Friday, sending plumes of ash as high as 20,000 feet into the sky, with reports of ash falling to beaches on the northern side of the island.

The country's National Emergency Management Organisation (NEMO), said the ash plumes were headed east, out into the Atlantic.

The eruption happened while St Vincent residents in the red zone around the volcano were being evacuated. The process began on Thursday evening.

Rowley is a former head of the UWI Seismic Research Unit and did his PhD on the La Soufriere volcano, He was present when it erupted in 1979. He was also part of an international scientific team put together by the British Government in response to the Montserrat volcanic eruptions in 1986.

"An eruption is always exciting for scientists, but very traumatic for any population exposed to the threat of eruption," Rowley said in a WhatsApp message in which he said he was in constant contact with his former colleagues.

The excitement Rowley referred to has not been limited to scientists. Across the Caribbean, via social media, people have been locked in to the eruption as it unfolds.

Though he would be considered an expert, Rowley said he did not wish to make any comment on the eruption itself, because that would "simply open the door to allow unwanted misrepresentation ans complicate an already stressful job of the on-site scientists and executive decision-makers in the arena."

He said this was usually one of the biggest problems faced by scientists managing volcano crises and puts real pressure on all the people involved in civil defence.