The streets of Saint Vincent Island are strewn with thick ash
On the island of Saint Vincent in the Caribbean, a volcanic eruption is exacerbating the humanitarian situation. The neighboring islands of Barbados, Antigua and Barbuda are in danger.
UN experts believe that the humanitarian crisis in the region will last at least a few months and call on the world community to raise funds to help the Caribbean islands.
The Soufriere volcano began erupting last Friday. It is located in the north of Saint Vincent.
Soufriere is one of the oldest volcanoes in the West Indies, during the period of our era it erupted about 160 times and often with devastating consequences.
The last time it erupted was in 1979.
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Since Friday, about 20 thousand people have been evacuated from the areas adjacent to the volcano. According to eyewitnesses, columns of smoke and ash fly out of the vent every day.
“We expect the eruption to continue with a lot of ash in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, affecting neighboring islands like Barbados, which was badly damaged, and Saint Lucia and Grenada,” said UN Regional Coordinator Didier Trebak.
According to him, the humanitarian situation is so serious that the islands will need help not only in the current moment, but also in the subsequent recovery.
The sky over St. Vincent is covered with smoke from the volcano
About 4 thousand displaced people are accommodated in temporary shelters. There are about 90 such shelters in total, but, according to UN representatives, many lack the most basic living conditions, in particular, drinking water.
Many settled with their relatives and friends or sailed to neighboring islands.
Providing displaced people with drinking water and cleaning ash from streets outside the red zone are two priorities for local authorities, but they say they cannot cope without outside help.
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Soufriere Volcano has been dormant for the past few decades, but in late 2020 it began to show signs of activity, periodically emitting some smoke.
The inevitability of a serious eruption became apparent a week ago, when lava clumps appeared on the slopes of the volcano last Thursday.
On the morning of last Friday, seismologists from the University of the West Indies officially confirmed the beginning of the eruption.
