The La Palma volcano is at maximum activity with more lava, energy and seismicity, according to experts

The volcano of La Palma (Spain) is at its maximum activity since it erupted and continues to be exceeded day by day, with constant lava overflows, new emission points, increasing seismicity and the greater amplitudes of the tremor signal in a month.

You could say that “We are at the starting point or at the time of most activity”, says David Calvo, spokesman for the Canary Islands Volcanological Institute (Involcan), and that five weeks have passed since the eruption began in Cumbre Vieja.

Calvo judges “nonsense” the emission of 53,600 tons of sulfur dioxide measured yesterday, which accounts for the intense activity of the volcano, which has five eruptive mouths open and various leaks through which more liquid lava comes out, and there are ten washes.

In the last 72 hours, events have accelerated, with overflows and partial ruptures of the main and secondary cones, the opening of fissures and the fall of “great avenues” of lava that at the moment are mainly flowing through the original wash. , which reached the sea forming a strip, which has increased in size.

The area affected by lava has increased in the last 24 hours by 5.1 hectares, for a total of 906.3, and the destroyed buildings, by 16, for a total of 2,162.

This greater flow of lava from the wash that devastated the Todoque neighborhood has filled the islands of vegetation known as ‘kipuka’, and has devastated the houses that had been left undamaged.

That extraordinary contribution of lava is also reaching the other two streams that approached the sea, but not enough for them to advance on its front.

The rest of the flows are quite slowed down, including the one from the eruptive mouth further south, which has been stopped in the Corazoncillo area, in Las Manchas, next to a photovoltaic plant, and the one that reached the urban area of ​​the neighborhood of The lagoon.

The director of the National Geographic Institute (IGN) in the Canary Islands, María José Blanco, has indicated that the new broadcasting centers that emerged in the last few hours have “the optimal address” so that they do not cause major material damage.

The biggest concern, Blanco pointed out, is that the main cone undergoes a great deformation and that influences the direction that the lava rivers take.

Regarding seismicity, the specialist of the National Geographic Institute (IGN) Itahiza Domínguez has indicated to Efe that there is no spatial evolution of the tremors that occur on La Palma, nor a clear evolution of the same, so it is not known expect sudden changes such as new volcanic intrusions.

High seismicity

On Sunday, “a lot of seismicity” was registered in the area between 10 and 15 kilometers deep with a very important peak around 4:30 p.m., when the seismicity rose significantly and an earthquake of intensity 4 to about 10 occurred. kilometres.

The scientific committee of Canary Islands Volcanic Emergency Plan (Pevolca) insists that earthquakes of intensity 6 may occur in the next few hours, without the need to adopt more preventive measures than the advice already disseminated to the population because the foreseeable damages that could cause are the falling of small objects, and the recommendation not to walk near facades or streetlights.

The Government of the Canary Islands has approved this Monday a budget bill for 2022 whose appropriation grows by 624 million, 7.4%, compared to the current accounts, and which includes, in an additional provision, the initial credit of 100 million of euros committed to contribute to the reconstruction of La Palma.

Dog rescue

On the other hand, today it has been known that the dogs rescued by a group of anonymous people before a drone company did it are in “perfect condition” and “were previously in good health”.

This was assured this Monday to Efe by the general director of Animal Rights, Sergio García, who points out that “now what remains is to determine what is done with them”, a decision that “will correspond to the competent administration.

“We have no idea how the rescue was,” Garcia has admitted; what he knows is that “in this case they called veterinarians, gave a location and there were the animals outside the danger zone, the lava zone where they had been confined.” (I)