THE HELL OF THE OLD SUMMIT

Volcano on Cumbre Vieja erupts on La Palma after a week of

earthquakes: the first Spanish eruption in 50 years.
By Teresa Pérez de Lucia Burgos

The intensification of geological activity on the

island in recent years had been indicating this,
and the earthquakes at the beginning of the
month made it clear that sooner or later it was
going to happen. Finally, it happened, a new
volcano on Cumbre Vieja erupted the 19th of
September of 2021 and it's currently active. It is
the first volcano in Spain to erupt in the last five
decades. And it did not do it with the mind set of
stopping early, but quite the opposite. After two
months of destruction, suffering and displaced
families, we continue to see how the volcano is
taking away more and more parts of the island.

The 18th of September the National Geographic

Institute recorded a deformation of 10
centimetres in the area. This was a clear
indication that magma was under the ground
and about to rise to the surface. The next day,
the deformation was already up to 15
centimetres. Moreover, stronger and stronger
seismic movements began to be recorded closer
to the surface. It was only a matter of time
before it erupted. That same day, the eruption
started at 14:13 in the afternoon in a local
municipality called El Paso. After 2 months of
uncertainty not knowing when it will stop the
volcano shows no signs of ceasing and the
number of evacuees is close to 7,000. The latest
data, indicates that lava covers 640.27 hectares,
and has widened to a maximum of 1,770 meters.
Finally waiting for this nightmare to
end, the government has agreed this
week in the Council of Ministers that all
public aid for the destruction of homes
or buildings due to the volcanic
eruption will not be taxed for personal
income tax and corporate income tax
purposes.
With much fear, the neighbours wait
anxiously for such government aid and
demand new and better equipped
homes in order to be able to continue
their lives as normally as possible, but
with great sorrow inside.