Concern that El Hierro’s Volcano May Erupt
September 28th, 2011
The Canary Island of El Hierro, the smallest and farthest southeast of the Spanish Atlantic archipelago, is steeling itself for a possible volcanic eruption after a series of tremors was felt during the weekend. The strongest of these, 3.4 on the Richter scale, shook El Hierro on Saturday.
The regional government of the Canaries reacted by raising the seismic alert level to yellow for the first time in the recent history of the islands. The first evacuations took place at 10pm last night, when the Civil Guard began to tell families in four areas of the municipality of Frontera, in the north of the island, that they had to leave their homes due to fears of landslides.
Troops from the Military Emergency Unit left Tenerife at midday today, bound for El Hierro. There they will be used to assist a possible evacuation of the 10,000 or so residents from their property in El Hierro should there be a volcanic eruption.
According to El Pais, the security department of El Hierro warned that there will be further activity over the next few days but asked residents to remain calm as “these seismic movements are normal.”
However, María del Carmen Morales, the island’s security chief, warned that evacuation of El Hierro may occur. “The eruption will give us plenty of notice, so we will have sufficient time to evacuate the population and take them to a safe place,” Morales said.
“At the moment, what’s important is to remain calm,” said Martín Marrero, spokesman for the regional government of the Canaries.
Scientists from the National Geographical Institute are also traveling from town to town on El Hierro to explain what might happen, to calm the population and to answer any questions.
Only one eruption on El Hierro has ever been recorded, in 1793. It lasted for a month.
