St. Vincent rocked by new volcanic blast ‘big enough to punch a hole in the clouds’ as cruise ship helps foreigners evacuate
The Caribbean island of St. Vincent was rocked by a new blast on Friday morning after the La Soufrière volcano shot out another burst of gas and ash.
According to Richard Robertson, a geologist with the University of the West Indies Seismic Research Center, Friday’s explosion wasn’t as big as the ones that shook the island last weekend, “but it was big enough to punch a hole through the clouds.”
“Probably got up to 8,000 meters (26,000 feet),” Robertson told a local NBC radio affiliate.
After decades of inactivity, La Soufrière began to erupt on the eastern Caribbean island last Friday, forcing some 20,000 residents and tourists to flee for shelters.
For the past week, periodic eruptions have coated the island in ash, as the United Nations warns that the crisis could “last certainly more than six months in the sub-region, in Saint Vincent, and other islands.”
Many residents have been left without clean water or electricity, according to the UN. The eruption has displaced roughly one-fifth of the island’s population. Around 6,000 of them are considered vulnerable.
U.S., Canadian and British nationals are being evacuated aboard Royal Caribbean Cruises’ Celebrity Reflection ship. Boarding began at 7 a.m. Friday at the harbor in the capital Kingstown. They are scheduled to arrive in Dutch St. Martin on Saturday morning.
“As of right now, we are being evacuated for our safety and to keep the island as safe as possible,” Leah Ransai, a Canadian student told The Associated Press. “Between the school, the government and the embassies of the U.S. and Canada, we’re being evacuated now.”
In an official note, the U.S. Embassy in Barbados, the Eastern Caribbean and the OECS, announced on Wednesday that it was coordinating with Royal Caribbean Cruises “for a transit opportunity for U.S. citizens who wish to depart St. Vincent.”
The trip is free, but the embassy noted that the CDC recommends against travel on cruise ships due to COVID-19 concerns
All passengers ages 2 and older will be required to show a negative COVID test taken within 24 hours of boarding.
Meanwhile, locals face an uncertain future.
According to the UN, “some 4,000 of the displaced people are now living in 87 shelters, though many facilities lack basic services such as drinking water.”
Some people have found refuge with family or friends, while others fled to neighboring countries on fishing boats.
