Shocking images of volcanic eruption in the Caribbean: more than 12,000 evacuated

Between 12 and 15 thousand people had to leave the red zones after the Soufriere volcano erupted on the Caribbean island of San Vicente, which began to spew lava and ash after 40 years of inactivity, the Bureau reported. National Disaster Services. of Antigua and Barbuda, to which the island belongs.

Philmore Mullin, director of this office, told AFP news agency that the twin island nation was ready to receive evacuees from Saint Vincent and assured that between 12,000 and 15,000 people had already left the red zones. .

Evacuees will be taken to shelters elsewhere in the island chain or to other Caribbean territories that have offered assistance, such as Barbados and Saint Lucia, according to local media.

“I know for sure that they will be very scared. The question is, what happens after they move? Volcanoes don’t tell you what they think,” Mullin said.

“If it continues to erupt for a long time, it will change their life. And depending on the type of eruption, they may not be able to return home for years,” he added.

The Royal Police of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines (RSVGPF) said in a statement, quoted by local news portal Searchlight, that all officers were ordered to report to work immediately.

“All members (RSVGPF) and their auxiliary forces who are currently on vacation are informed that all permits have been canceled with immediate effect,” the statement said.

Sirens sounded on one side of the island as traffic blocked the other in the rush for residents to escape, Searchlight reported.

The main volcano on the Caribbean island of San Vicente erupted today, for the first time in 40 years, and authorities have ordered an early morning evacuation.

“At 8:41 am this morning (12:41 GMT), an explosive eruption started at the Soufriere volcano in San Vicente. This is the peak of the seismic activity that started on April 8. The eruption is continuing,” tweeted the Seismic Research Center at the University of the West Indies in Trinidad and Tobago.

Authorities have issued evacuation orders due to the threat of a volcanic eruption and have deployed several cruise ships to house thousands of people forced to leave their homes, official sources reported.

It is the largest island among those that make up Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, a country located in the southern Caribbean.

The country’s Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves said the island was on red alert following a change in volcanic activity in the La Soufrière crater and called on residents of northern areas to immediately go to safety, a AFP news agency reported today.

“I have issued an evacuation order for all residents living in the RED ZONES in the northeast and northwest of the island,” Gonsaleves wrote in a tweet Thursday evening. About 16,000 people live in the red zones.

The order came after scientists monitoring the volcano warned authorities that they had detected magma moving towards its surface.

The island’s National Emergency Management Organization said there was “a substantial prospect of disaster.”

The volcano was spewing steam last night according to images from the University of the West Indies Seismic Research Center, which monitors volcanic activity in the eastern Caribbean.