La Palma Volcano: Lava torrent spreading from 3 sides, this Spanish city in danger [TKB World]

La Palma volcano on Spain’s Canary Islands erupted again after 50 years. Volcano is very active at the moment. Throwing lava thousands of feet up. Lava is erupting out from five places. The lava emanating from the volcano is enveloping a city on three sides. So far this lava has burnt more than 166 houses. The streets have become a wall of lava. Even the swimming pools have melted. Now the danger is to the banana plantations. After this the lava will fall directly into the sea. But by then a great devastation would have happened.

La Palma Volcano is also called La Cumbre Vieja i.e. The Old Summit. Before this it had exploded in October 1971. Then it shed rivers of lava for three weeks. This volcano has been spewing lava continuously since the eruption on the night of 19 September 2021. Dozens of houses in the nearby town of El Paso have been burned. The fields and houses of nearby villages have melted and mixed in the soil.

So far, about 7 thousand people have been shifted to safer places from the residential areas located around this volcano. There is no news of anyone being killed or injured. According to local volcanologists, it will continue to throw lava for the next four-five days. Which will cross the surrounding villages and towns and go to the sea. But it is feared that much more damage will be done than this.

Lava is moving at a speed of 200 meters per hour. By 21 September 2021, 706 million cubic feet or about 2000 million kilograms of lava has come out of the volcano and spread towards the cities. Around September 11, the local administration issued a warning saying that La Palma Volcano could erupt at any time.

Before issuing the warning, scientists had recorded more than 4,000 small earthquakes in the vicinity of La Palma Volcano. This is called an earthquake wave. If there is continuous seismic activity somewhere and there is a volcano there, the possibility of its eruption increases. This means that the lava from the center of the earth is rapidly coming upwards to exit through the volcano.

Spanish scientists noticed on 16 September that the ground around La Palma Volcano had started to swell after an earthquake warning was issued. After this, the scientists issued the second highest level yellow level warning. Luca Deoria, head of the Volcano Monitoring Department at the Canary Island Volcano Institute, said that when we recorded the occurrence of earthquakes and the Earth’s swelling, it was understood that this volcano is going to erupt again after 50 years.

Since September 11, more than 22 thousand earthquakes have been recorded around La Palma Volcano. On 19 September, Luca Deoria’s apprehension proved to be correct. The good thing was that since September 16, people from the residential areas around the volcano had started to move to safer places. Along with them, domestic animals and cattle were also sent away from the area.

Luca Deoria said that by the time it erupted on the first day, the edge of its lava had achieved a height of about 1 kilometer. Clouds of ash and smoke had darkened all around. But it didn’t come out much. More lava is coming out of this volcano. Initially it was thought that this volcano could cause a huge tsunami wave that could engulf the whole of Eastern Europe, but it did not happen.

There is a scientific study behind the possibility of a huge tsunami, which was done in the year 2001, this study was published in Geophysical Research Letters. In which it was said that if the volcano erupted again, then a large part of this mountain would break and fall into the Atlantic Ocean. Which can be about 150 to 500 cubic kilometers of area. Due to this, waves about 82 feet high will rise in the Atlantic Ocean, then they will go to the coast of America.

Due to the La Palma Volcano, 103 hectares of land has been burnt to ashes. Hot lava is spread over there. From which poisonous smoke is coming out. Apart from this, more than 166 houses have been demolished or damaged by the torrent of lava flowing from three sides. Although 80 thousand people live on this Canary Islands, but most of the danger was to the 7 thousand people living around the volcano, which are still present in a safe place.