Young: More soldiers, supplies for St Vincent

A cargo boat with water tanks and supplies set sail to St Vincent from the Port of Port of Spain on Friday. Photo by Angelo Marcelle -
A cargo boat with water tanks and supplies set sail to St Vincent from the Port of Port of Spain on Friday. Photo by Angelo Marcelle -

National Security Minister Stuart Young on Saturday said all was well with the 50 members of the Defence Force who went to St Vincent with supplies on Tuesday, as another vessel was expected to take more officers and supplies to the island on Sunday. He said they would join the Caribbean Disaster Response Unit.

Speaking at the 1st Infantry Battalion, Camp Ogden, Long Circular Road, St James where the heads of division of national security received their first covid19 vaccinations, Young said the foreign soldiers were also assisting with humanitarian efforts like getting supplies to various rural areas but were prepared to assist on a security level if necessary.

The local soldiers were expected to stay for two weeks, but that time frame could change.

“These things are very fluid so it remains under review. At the end of the day we will listen to what the government of St Vincent asks of us. I would take advice from the Chief of Defence Staff and then speak to the Prime Minister and then make a decision as to what happens.”

He added that Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley had been in contact with Dr Rowley and specific items were requested. They were gathered and packaged in 48 hours.

Since La Soufriere had its first explosive eruption on April 9, ash from the volcano started drifting towards Barbados. By the next day, ash blanked that country’s air space resulting in the closure of the airport and the skies turned dark as night during the day. The blanket of ash has since subsided but clean up efforts are ongoing.

“This afternoon (Saturday) we will also be using one of our aircraft, a C-26 aircraft, as well as the RSS (Regional Security System) will be sending their aircraft from Barbados to get some supplies that were requested by the government of Barbados to Barbados,” Young said.

A new crater has since formed in the south west sector of the summit crater of the La Soufriere volcano.

According to Saturday’s 6 am update by the University of the West Indies Seismic Research Centre, the new crater measures approximately 900 metres north to south, 750 metres east to west, 100 metres deep and has several vents.

“Based on the new features, it may be possible that some of the 1979 lava dome still exists, only buried by the tephra blanket. Much clearer imagery is needed before this can be reliably determined.”

It added that the rate of the long-period and hybrid earthquakes that was being experienced dropped significantly around 8 pm on Friday and remained near-consistent. Also, there had been no episodes of tremor between 6 pm on Friday and 6 am on Saturday.

“There was one episode of high-level tremor at 6.15 am (on Friday) which lasted for about three minutes followed by over two hours of lower-level tremor generated by explosive activity and venting.”

Although explosive activity appears to have ended for now, it could restart in the future, and the volcano continues to erupt with the possibility of dome-building events.

Sulphur dioxide flux on the west coast was also measured at an average of 460 tonnes per day.

Comments

"Young: More soldiers, supplies for St Vincent"

More in this section