La palma spanish: Santa Cruz de La Palma

La Palma volcanic eruption declared over – DW – 12/25/2021

The volcano on La Palma erupted for 85 days and 8 hours, making it the island’s longest eruption on record Image: EUROPA PRESS/dpa/picture alliance

CatastropheSpain

12/25/2021December 25, 2021

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has described the end of the eruption on the tiny Canary island as the “best Christmas present.” The volcano flared for more than 85 days, causing nearly €1 billion in damage.

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The volcanic eruption on the Spanish island of La Palma has been declared over, more than three months after it began, officials said Saturday.

The announcement followed 10 days of low-level activity from the Cumbre Vieja volcano on La Palma — one of the Canary Islands, just off Africa’s northwest coast.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez called the news “the best Christmas present. “

La Palma volcano passes eruption record

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The eruption on September 19 sent ash plumes containing toxic gases into the air and created rivers of molten rock that crashed into the sea.

More than 2,900 properties — homes, schools, churches and health centers — along with large swathes of farmland were damaged, at an estimated cost of €900 million ($1 billion).

No injuries or deaths have been reported but thousands of people were evacuated.

The eruption — which was accompanied by frequent earthquakes — was the first on La Palma since 1971.

A photo from November of red-hot lava flowing down a mountain near someone’s homeImage: Emilio Morenatti/AP/picture alliance

Record for longest eruption

The volcano fell silent on the evening of December 14 after flaring for 85 days and 8 hours, making it the island’s longest eruption on record.   

“We will continue working together, all the institutions, to relaunch the wonderful island of La Palma and repair the damage caused,” Sanchez tweeted on Saturday.    

His government has so far promised €225 million to fund recovery efforts, including temporary housing and financial assistance to people who lost their jobs.

A spokesperson for the Canaries’ volcanic emergency committee Miguel Angel Morcuende tempered the good news, stressing that the volcano remains unpredictable and could suddenly become active again.

“It’s not joy or satisfaction — how we can define what we feel? It’s an emotional relief. And hope,” Julio Perez, the emergency committee’s director, said. “Because now, we can apply ourselves and focus completely on the rebuilding work.”

Nearly three thousands buildings, including many homes, were destroyed or damaged by the lava flow from the volcanoImage: Emilio Morenatti/AP Photo/picture alliance

Residents return home

People returning to their homes were told to open their windows to make sure any toxic gas that had accumulated could escape, state broadcaster RTVE reported.

The lava will also take a long time to cool to a safe level.

Experts have warned it will take several years to clean up the land destroyed by the lava and remove huge amounts of ash from buildings and roads.

Soldiers from an emergency unit have been removing ash from rooftops to prevent buildings from collapsing.

La Palma is roughly 35 kilometers (22 miles) long and 20 kilometers (12 miles) wide at its broadest point.

Farming and tourism are the main industries on the Canary Islands, a popular destination for many European vacationers due to their warm climate, especially in winter.

Another volcanic eruption, the longest in Iceland in 50 years, was also declared over this week.

The flareup began on March 19 on the outskirts of Mount Fagradalsfjall, about 30 kilometers southwest of the capital Reykjavik.

mm/aw AFP, AP, dpa)

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Volcano draws visitors to Spanish isle

The eruption of the volcano in La Palma a year ago — spewing rivers of molten rock and ash plumes into the air — has sparked tourism to the Spanish island.

When the volcano erupted in La Palma last year, Teodoro Gonzalez Perez rushed to the Spanish island to see the lava flows with his own eyes—now he’s back for another look.

This time, he’s here to see the volcano closer up now it has quieted down.

“It’s like walking on the surface of a new planet,” said the 54-year-old nurse from the nearby island of Tenerife while hiking through a lush pine forest carpeted with black ash to reach the site.

“Visiting a volcano which recently erupted is an opportunity that only arises once in a lifetime,” he told AFP.

Since the volcano erupted on September 19, 2021, spewing rivers of molten rock and ash plumes into the air, interest in visiting La Palma is booming.

The island is normally one of the less visited ones of Spain’s tourism-dependent Canary Islands off Africa’s northwestern coast.

In August, the average hotel occupancy on the island hit 90.9 percent, well above expectations, with visitors from the rest of Spain accounting for the bulk of the overnight stays, according to local hotel lobby group ASHOTEL.

“Before the eruption, we struggled to make the island known,” ASHOTEL’s vice president Carlos Garcia Sicilia told AFP.

“On the one hand, the volcano has been a misfortune, a huge blow to the island’s economy. On the other, I think half the planet has now heard of La Palma.”

La Palma is normally one of the less visited islands of Spain’s tourism-dependent Canary Islands.

While the images beamed around the world during the 85-day eruption focused on the destruction caused by the volcano, news reports also highlighted the tiny island’s charms—which has helped whet the appetite for travel to La Palma.

Nicknamed “La Isla Bonita” or “The Beautiful Island”, La Palma is a UNESCO-recognised biosphere reserve replete with verdant forests, rocky peaks and desert.

‘As close as possible’

Since the eruption, the number of cruise ships stopping at the island has increased, as has the number of direct flights from mainland Spain and elsewhere in Europe.

Irish low-cost airline Ryanair opened its first base in La Palma in March and offers several direct flights per week to three Spanish cities as well as Milan.

Business is also booming for tour companies offering day trips by ferry from Tenerife, the largest and most visited island of the Canaries.

Excursiones Jesus, based in Tenerife, runs its 135-euro ($135) 11-hour tour of La Palma three days a week now, up from just one before the eruption.

“People want to get as close as possible to where the eruption happened,” company founder Jesus Molina told AFP.

The ash and rivers of lava spewing from the volcano swallowed up more than 1,000 homes, cut off highways and suffocated lush banana plantations .

The ash and rivers of lava spewing from the volcano swallowed up more than 1,000 homes, cut off highways and suffocated lush banana plantations.

On a recent weekday, small groups of tourists could often be seen snapping pictures of excavators removing giant chunks of solidified lava from the centre of La Laguna, a town where the molten rock swallowed up a gas station and a supermarket.

Among those flocking to the island are regular visitors, one of whom is Rita Ley, a retired German woman who said she wanted to see what it looked like after the eruption.

“It is terrible to see that everything is destroyed, but it’s interesting to see how the earth is alive,” said the 59-year-old.

Travel vouchers

The government now sees tourism as key to the recovery of the island’s economy.

It has spent heavily to promote travel to La Palma and has given away 20,000 travel vouchers worth 250 euros to residents of Spain that can be used in hotels and restaurants on the island.

To help draw more tourists, the authorities have inaugurated a new zip-line and a visitors’ centre at the Roque de los Muchachos astronomical observatory.

The government sees tourism as key to the recovery of La Palma’s economy and has taken numerous initiatives to encourage visitors.

It is also helping restore the tourism infrastructure.

Around 3,000 of La Palma’s 8,000 tourist beds were either destroyed in the eruption, or are located in areas that remain off limits due to dangerous levels of volcanic gases, mainly in Puerto Naos on the southwestern coast.

Hawaii and Iceland saw a similar increase in tourists after they experienced volcanic eruptions but visitor interest eventually waned and some tourism operators in La Palma expect the same to happen.

Jonas Perez, founder of Isla Bonita Tours, predicted the volcanic eruption “won’t be as fresh in people’s memory” in a few years.

“La Palma will no longer be as popular,” he said.

© 2022 AFP

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Spanish volcano breaks the record for eruption: it will not end soon

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December 13, 2021

Further

Anastasia
Nikiforova

news editor

Anastasia
Nikiforova

news editor

The eruption of the La Palma volcano in the Canary Islands in Spain continues for more than 85 days. It is reported by The Associated Press.

Read Hi-Tech in

The La Palma volcano in Spain started erupting on September 19 and is still going on. Since then, more than 3,000 homes and several thousand people have been affected by the natural disaster. On Sunday, after several days of low activity, the Cumbre Vieja volcano suddenly came alive again. The eruption was accompanied by loud explosions and a huge cloud of ash that rose into the sky. The volcanic eruption on the Spanish island broke the local record and lasted more than 85 days.

Scientists say volcanic eruptions are unpredictable. However, Spanish experts say that La Palma’s eruption could last up to three months. Also, Mariano Hernandez, a government official on the island, has called the volcano “stable” in recent days.

“The thing is, all the key indicators were low,” he told the Spanish public broadcaster RTVE. “But scientists don’t say exactly when it might end.”

He said experts continue to measure the number and magnitude of earthquakes in the area, as well as local levels of sulfur dioxide. From Saturday to Sunday, authorities recorded 24 earthquakes, but local residents did not feel a single shock. Most of the area covered by lava rivers that dump molten rock into the sea is agricultural land.

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The Spanish Minister considers that the La Palma volcanic eruption should be used as a tourist attraction
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Madrid, September 21, AZERTAC

The Minister of Industry, Trade and Tourism of Spain, Maria Reyes Maroto, in an interview with Radio Canal Sur, said that the eruption of the Cumbre Vieja volcano, which is still ongoing on the island of La Palma, must be used as a tourist attraction.

According to AZERTAC, the Spanish minister urged tourists to enjoy the unprecedented natural phenomenon on the island, mentioning that volcanic tourism is also being promoted in other countries such as Iceland.

However, not everyone approved the minister’s initiative, emphasizing that volcanic eruptions are, first of all, a tragedy for people who have lost everything they had.

On September 19, Cumbre Vieja volcano erupted on the Spanish island of La Palma in the Atlantic Ocean, part of the Canary archipelago. More than 85 thousand citizens live in this area and there are populated areas of Cabeza de Vaca and El Paso.

Nigar Jafarli

Sobcor Azertaj

Madrid

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