President Ali pledges help as volcano eruption threatens St. Vincent
Kaieteur News – In response to the forthcoming volcano crisis affecting the Caribbean island nation, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Guyana says it is ready to facilitate the help and support needed.
In a brief statement issued by the President’s Office yesterday evening, President Irfaan Ali said he had already contacted Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves and assured him of “Guyana’s full support in dealing with this crisis. forthcoming. ”
According to Ali, the Prime Minister, Gonsalves, has indicated to him that apart from the need to evacuate citizens, other emergency materials are needed. Reflecting on the work in progress, the President immediately noted that, having received the full list of their needs, a national response would be put together to supply the items and arrange for their transport to ‘ the island.
This announcement learned that La Soufriere’s volcano, which is currently threatening the island, has been erupting effectively since December, and that it can erupt in hours or days. This is according to the chief scientist, who is monitoring the volcano, Professor Richard Robertson.
Speaking at an urgent press conference last Thursday with the Prime Minister, the Professor said that there are now “forbidden vibrations,” usually associated with magma moving to the surface. He said the magma was on or near the surface and the potential for the volcano to move into explosives had increased significantly, based on the activity being observed. However, given the data, the monitoring team still can’t tell when an explosive explosion might occur, Professor said.
Yesterday Royal Caribbean Cruises offered several of its cruise ships in what is expected to be a massive evacuation exercise. The La Soufriere volcano last erupted explosively on April 13, 1979.