Brianna Cummings '21
On April 9, about 20,000 people were evacuated from the area nearest to La Soufrière volcano on the northside of St. Vincent after it began erupting. According to the Wall Street Journal, “The eruptions at the 3,864-foot volcano have continued nearly every day since. On Wednesday, April 14, a fresh eruption sent clouds of ash into the sky and superheated clouds of gas, ash and rock speeding down the hillsides, island officials said.” Luckily, no one was killed in the eruptions. St. Vincent and the Grenadines is an island country lying within the Lesser Antilles, in the eastern Caribbean Sea. It consists of the island of Saint Vincent and the northern Grenadine Islands, which stretch southward toward Grenada. A heavy blanket of ash has covered most of the island, ranging from a few inches in the south to several feet in the north. Ash has suffocated farmland and contaminated local water reservoirs, leading to a shortage of fresh water. The volcano's eruption has left the entire population of St. Vincent, 110,000 people, without clean drinking water or electricity. The water system has been shut down, so any drinking water is coming from outside the country. The eruption of La Soufrière is expected to continue because it is displaying an episodic eruption pattern with long pauses. Explosions and ashfall of similar or greater magnitude are expected to continue for the next few days, according to the University of the West Indies Seismic Research Centre. To help out the efforts, The United Nations has requested $29.2 million in humanitarian aid to support St. Vincent in its recovery from ongoing volcanic eruptions that have caused widespread damage, including the relocation of 20% of the island's population. Meanwhile, UN Emergency Relief Coordinator Mark Lowcock announced that the UN's Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) has been allocated $1 million to assist affected people, especially those who have had to be evacuated. Prayers and best wishes go out to St. Vincent and the Grenadines and its people.
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