St. Vincent and the Grenadines is now making final arrangements for the evacuation of northern communities on the island as activity on the La Soufriere active volcano increases, according to News 784 in St. Vincent.
Prime Minister Dr. Ralph Gonsalves made the announcement at a press conference called by his government earlier today.
The Prime Minister told the nation that a new series of tremors which occurred this morning, takes on a different meaning.
Geologist Richard Robertson said between 3 am and 10 am Thursday, monitoring stations reported four different low-level seismic activities at varying times.
Long-period earthquakes were also reported and according to the geologist, all this means that fresh magma is trying to reach the surface and all indications show that the volcano wants to move to an explosive stage.
The earliest period that shows there can be an explosive eruption is NOW, the next few hours or days, Robertson says pointing out that the volcano could return to normal as well.
In its latest bulletin at 10 am on Thursday morning, NEMO said steaming/smoking at the La Soufriere Volcano has increased over the last few hours and encouraged residents, especially persons living in communities close to the volcano, to be prepared if it becomes necessary to evacuate at short notice.
The alert remains at Orange.
Meanwhile, Dominica’s prime minister, Roosevelt Skerrit, has offered to accommodate Vincentians who may have to be evacuated because of the volcanic activity in the sister OECS island.
He said during a cabinet media conference recently, that the Moroccan Hotel, as well as several other apartment complexes in Picard, Portsmouth have been identified to house residents of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines who may need to come to Dominica should activities at the La Soufiere volcano continue to intensify.
The prime minister said the treasury of Dominica would underwrite the cost associated with hosting anyone from Saint Vincent who has to be evacuated from the La Soufriere locality.
Below is a recent video of activity at the La Soufriere volcano, courtesy of the Facebook page of Kryptic Entretenimiento.
Disclaimer: The comments posted do not necessarily reflect the views of DominicaNewsOnline.com and its parent company or any individual staff member. All comments are posted subject to approval by DominicaNewsOnline.com. We never censor based on political or ideological points of view, but we do try to maintain a sensible balance between free speech and responsible moderating.
We will delete comments that:
See our full comment/user policy/agreement.