Lava flow thickens on La Palma after volcanic crater collapses
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[October 04, 2021]
By Borja Suarez and Marco Trujillo
LA PALMA, Spain (Reuters) - A river of
red-hot lava gushing from the Cumbre Vieja volcano on Spain's La Palma
thickened on Monday, after the north side of the crater collapsed the
previous night causing spectacular explosions, but authorities ruled out
further evacuations.
Despite the heightened activity, the lava appeared to be following a
similar trajectory to previous flows and avoiding areas that have so far
been spared, Canary Islands' regional president Angel Victor Torres
said.
"We had to order a few lockdowns because of the air quality, but we are
not planning to evacuate more people," he said in an interview to TV
channel TVE on Monday morning.
Torres said the volcano had emitted roughly three times the material
expelled during the island's last major eruption in 1971, in a quarter
of the time.
He added that his administration planned to buy around 300 houses to
accommodate those who lost their homes and said it was too early to tell
how great the total damage would be.
"We're still in the middle of this...if the lava keeps springing up in
the same quantities we saw last night, the damage is going to be
greater," Torres said.
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The Cumbre Vieja volcano continues to erupt on the Canary Island of
La Palma, as seen from El Paso, Spain, October 4, 2021. REUTERS/Juan
Medina
Roughly 1,000 buildings have been destroyed since the
eruption began on Sept. 19 and 6,000 people have been evacuated,
mostly from the towns of El Paso and Los Llanos de Aridane, two of
the main population centres in the island of 83,000 people.
While visiting the island over the weekend, Prime Minister Pedro
Sanchez pledged 206 million euros in aid to help rebuild and
insisted La Palma was safe for tourism.
(Reporting by Borja Suarez and Marco Trujillo in La Palma and Inti
Landauro and Nathan Allen in Madrid; Editing by Alex Richardson)
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