The lava from the La Palma volcano offers a day of respite after the strong shocks of the previous days. The alluvium of lava that has flowed from the main cone after the collapses of Monday and Tuesday has barely reached new surface, has hardly affected buildings and continues its way through the main stream towards the sea. “The news today is at least good”, summarized this Wednesday the technical director of the Volcanic Emergency Plan of the Canary Islands (Pevolca), Miguel Ángel Morcuende. “The most important thing is that the lava flow is controlled, which is very favorable for us,” he explained. Rivers of magma are mostly directed west, increasing the volume and height of the main stream.
The earthquakes, on the other hand, continue without respite to the island. This Wednesday, after three in the afternoon in the Canary Islands, three consecutive earthquakes of magnitude greater than 4. “Seismicity is important and relevant”, explained Morcuende, “and it must be said that it has increased slightly to intermediate and deep”. The spokeswoman for the scientific committee, María José Blanco, has once again insisted that it is possible for tremors to reach intensities of up to VI (strong), although it is not certain that this will happen. If this degree were reached, the earthquake would be felt by the entire population of the island. When this happens, panic among citizens is frequent and it is difficult to walk or stand.
At the moment, the earthquakes on La Palma have not reached that point and experts have chosen to hold on to the positive signals that have occurred this Wednesday regarding the lava. The two most worrisome washes, those that went to the neighborhood of El Corazoncillo, in Las Manchas, and the urban area of La Laguna, have remained braked for another day. “In this regard, it is good news that the wash runs on trodden ground, already destroyed,” said Morcuende.
The data reflect this favorable behavior of lava. Copernicus, the European Union’s Earth observation program, reported this Wednesday that the lava has advanced 1.9 hectares in 24 hours. So far, 908.2 hectares of land have been covered by lava and 2,162 buildings have been destroyed, none in the last day. The Cadastre figures, which are usually lower than those of the European surveillance system since they discriminate constructions such as tool rooms or cisterns, maintain that four new houses have fallen for a total of 1,291 buildings.
Another of the good news of the day has been the reversal of the deformity of the terrain, which on Tuesday had reached 10 centimeters at a point close to the cone, which had not been observed in the rest of the network, and which could be motivated due to an increase in the accumulation of magmatic material under that station. If it had continued to grow, it could have created another mouth, as has happened on previous occasions. This pattern had already occurred on two previous occasions, being followed by an intensification of the observable phenomena in the eruptive centers.
Visit of Luis Planas
The Minister of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries, Luis Planas, has sent a letter to the European Commissioner for Agriculture, Janusz Wojciechowski, in which he requests that the funds from the European program to help agriculture in the Canary Islands linked to the commercialization of the products can be perceived even if they have not been able to be put on the market due to the ash or lack of irrigation.
In a press conference held after the meeting of the mixed commission for the reconstruction of La Palma, the minister commented that the “exceptionality” of the case on the island “justifies” that this measure can be exempted from the general rule. This would benefit both agricultural holdings directly devastated by runoff and those that lost crops due to ash or irrigation difficulties due to the breakage of pre-existing water pipes. Farmers have to justify 75% of annual production to be eligible for these subsidies.
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