St Vincent's La Soufriere erupts 3 times on Friday

THE La Soufriere volcano in St Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG) had erupted three times up to Friday evening, leaving many at local shelters and others seeking refuge in neighbouring Caricom countries.

But there have also been some hurdles in the evacuation process, as many people are refusing to leave the "red zone" around the volcano, others have refused to be vaccinated against the covid19 virus, and at times, the ash is so thick that drivers can't see their way.

On Friday, the country's prime minister Dr Ralph Gonsalves was brought to tears as he announced that several countries had offered to assist.

He issued an evacuation order on Thursday afternoon for residents near the volcano, in the north of the island, as seismologists warned it was nearing “an imminent and violent eruption,” which eventually happened on Friday morning and twice more later in the day.

At an emergency press conference a few hours after the first, Gonsalves said over 2,000 people were already at 20 different shelters elsewhere in the country.

He added that many had opted for hotels and guest houses, where he believes preference should be given to the elderly.

“It will cost more money, but I don’t want the operation to be run like it’s a penny-pinching NGO (non-government organisation) operation.

“The places indicated they have about 800 rooms, and I think we can call other persons who did not indicate before to get more…but I’d like to see, as I said, the elderly persons go there.”

He said being at a shelter may be more feasible for “strong, robust” people rather than the sick and the elderly.

He added, “Let’s face it – being in a shelter that used to be a school, even though you have a cot and a bed and meals are coming in, is not home…and the quality of people’s homes have improved over the past 30 years, so that we don’t want persons to experience conditions in the shelters which are really too onerous.”

He said people would have to be tested for the covid19 virus and vaccinated before going to these places, and urged, “I want everybody to co-operate. I don’t want us to get frustrated, I don’t want us to panic.”

He said he has spoken to the prime ministers of countries including Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, Grenada, Antigua and Barbuda and Dominica.

He said Grenada, Antigua and Barbuda and Dominica should be ready to accept Vincentian citizens by Monday. Some hotels and guest houses there have been closed to prepare for their arrival, while some people have offered to let Vincentians stay at their private homes.

“Amazing, eh? On this dangerous road to Jericho, we have the good Samaritans…to put people in their homes…strangers…brings tears to my eyes. I love this Caribbean,” he said, before wiping away tears.

He said currently, people are being transported out of the red zone in minibuses and thanked the drivers and operators of those services.

“That is the way we are at the moment, and I just want to say to again, to all the persons involved in the evacuation exercise, I want to thank you for what you have been doing…The goodness of the hearts of our people and our Caribbean brothers and sisters.”

Prof Richard Robertson of UWI's Seismic Research Centre said overnight, the volcano "had gone into continuous tremor.

"We moved from bands of tremors to continuous tremors and around 8.30 am, we started seeing a signal slowly gaining amplitude and increased the amount of shaking and by 8.41 am, people realised there was an explosion."

He said pilots have said ash clouds up to 20 miles north and 50 miles south of St Vincent, and at a height of ten kilometres.

It's possible to continue to have "more explosions like these," he said.

He warned those who live in the red zone and are not evacuating and saying, "We will wait it out and see what happens," about this.

Gonsalves also said, "This is not simply going to be like a hurricane, where it might be a seven-day business, or in some cases a two-day business. Prof Robinson had indicated that depending on the extent of the explosion and the damage done, it could be for months."

A surreal experience

Layou resident Bria King, 27, told Newsday that despite living in the “green zone,” it has been a surreal experience for her.

“Even though I spent most of my life in St Vincent, which is a country with an active volcano, I don’t think I’ve ever imagined or thought about what it would be like to experience an eruption. I wasn’t around in 1979."

La Soufriere's last major volcanic activity occured in that year.

“I live in the green zone and we still did a lot of preparing for it, because even though the green zone is considered safe, you never know what’s going to happen and we could experience a lot of ashfall. Even yesterday, I was going through the checklist with my mom to make sure we have everything that we need, like water, dried foods, crackers, tin goods.”

She said on Friday morning, she felt the rumbling of the volcano for approximately two minutes. She said people went outside to see what was happening, as they could see the smoke from their area.

King, a journalist, works for the Searchlight newspaper. She said she visited some of the designated shelters in Layou and Barrouallie, but there were not many people there at the time.

“But the shelter managers are expecting a lot more people, now that the eruption has taken place.

“We’re not sure how long it will erupt, whether there will be another explosion soon.”

She said people at the shelters said they felt safe, but a major problem has been reluctance to take the covid19 vaccine. Some people even said if it becomes mandatory to have the vaccine to remain at the shelter, they would leave.

Up to press time, over 12,000 people had been vaccinated in SVG. The country currently has community spread of the virus.

In addition to the devastating effect of the eruption on the human population, King said farmers are concerned about their crops and livestock.

“Some of them, while they were waiting on the agriculture ministry to come and tag their animals, it didn’t happen before they had to evacuate and so they are worried about their animals that they left in the red zone, too. It will be a difficult time for them.”

The Searchlight’s editor-in-chief Clare Keizer also lives in the green zone, but she told Newsday, “The air is a bit dusty from the very fine ash. I could actually taste the slight grittiness on my tongue.”

She said many businesses closed early.

Keizer also confirmed, “I know for a fact that there are some of the people in the red zone who are refusing to leave.”

Two cruise ships are being used to take Vincentians to neighbouring countries that have offered assistance.

Newsday also spoke to former secretary of the country’s Red Cross, and honorary vice-president for life, Rene Baptiste.

She said the first set of recent tremors started in November 2020.

“And then into December…Then in March, it started to pick up a lot of pace and we started having a lot of earthquakes closer to the volcano itself.”

She said even before the Easter weekend, some people in the red zone had started evacuating their elderly relatives.

Many young entrepreneurs in the food and drink business have been offering to provide free meals to the shelters, she said.