St. Vincent and the Grenadines Remains on Red Alert Status

Eight days after the eruption of the La Soufrière volcano in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, the Caribbean country is carrying out tasks to distribute humanitarian aid, while thousands of residents near the red zone have been placed as refugees.

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In this context, Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves made this wekendy a tour in the red zone where he verified the dozens of hectares of crops covered by ash and damage caused to different types of infrastructure, which has caused millions of dollars in losses.

Dozens of houses, vehicles and roads have been covered by the volcanic activity, while authorities warned that the recovery in some sectors, with the plantation of bananas, will start from scratch. Drinking water is now being supplied from trucks that have been arranged to serve the population. 

Gonsalves again thanked the government of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro for the humanitarian and material aid destined to assist the thousands of residents who suffered from the volcano explosions. He warned that many areas were left unusable for farming and hopes that the country will soon recover from the tragedy.

Two multidisciplinary teams of the International Task Force Simon Bolivar visited this Friday with the Minister of Agriculture, Saboto Caesar, the agricultural areas in the north of the island most affected by the explosions of the volcano La Soufrière. Most of the agricultural areas of St. Vincent are within the red zone and are therefore the most affected.

The teams visited fields, poultry, livestock and pig farms, where they observed total devastation, including losses to banana, banana, pineapple, eggplant and coconut plantations. The teams also noted dead animals and houses destroyed by the effect of the ashes.

Minister Caesar said that the recovery period in the northern part of the island is approaching, but it will not be easy as this would require machines and equipment to remove the hundreds of tons of ash that are covering that area.

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) announced that it is supporting St. Vincent's Ministry of Agriculture with early action to protect livestock-based livelihoods from the impacts of the volcano's eruption.

After decades of inactivity, last Friday, April 9, 2021, the La Soufrière volcano, located on the Caribbean island of St. Vincent, erupted and emitted a high eruptive column of 10 kilometers over the crater, causing abundant ash fallout. Hours before, authorities ordered the evacuation of thousands of inhabitants near the maximum risk zone.

Currently, the volcano is still in an explosive phase that could last several days or weeks, according to the UWI (University of the West Indies) Seismic Research Center.