St Vincent water supply running low as volcano eruptions continue
The Caribbean island of St. Vincent runs low on water and other necessary supplies as more eruptions from the La Soufriere volcano cause more damage to the island and surrounding territories. New eruptions today sent giant amounts of volcanic ash into the sky.
Some 20,000 people were evacuated from the Northern region, close to the volcano, ahead of the first eruption last Friday. About 3,000 residents stay in government shelters, but officials there are worried that water, food, and other supplies are running low.
“We have to get stuff rolling into people,” Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves said during a press conference on local radio. The good news is that no casualties have been reported yet, but the volcano shows no signs of subsiding since it burst with what was described as a “huge explosion” last week.
The force of the eruption was so strong; ash has spread as far as Barbados. The government of nearby Saint Lucia has also issued an advisory to its citizens warning about compromised air quality due to the eruptions' gases. So far, there have been no reports of casualties or injuries. Damages for an eruption in 1979 were $100 million. But residents are struggling to deal with supply shortages. The volcano is causing extensive damage, Erouscilla Joseph, director of the University of the West Indies Seismic Research Center. “It’s destroying everything in its path,” she told The Associated Press.
The falling ash and pyroclastic flow from the volcano have destroyed crops across the island and contaminated water reservoirs. The minister of the island’s water and sewer authority said some communities have not yet received water, and they will run out very soon.
Other Caribbean nations have chipped in to help shipments of items, including cots, respiratory masks, water bottles, and tanks. Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves said some supplies from neighboring countries had started rolling into the island nation of just over 100,000 residents during a press conference broadcast on a local station. But more help was needed.
The Central Water and Sewage Authority has been unable to harvest any water from the water sources since the volcano erupted, government spokesman Sehon Marshall said, which has resulted in a more than 50% depletion of water storage.
Some Caribbean islands have delivered cots, food, masks, and respiratory tanks. The World Bank has disbursed $20 million to the government of St. Vincent as part of an interest-free catastrophe financing program. But when all is said and done, the damage from La Soufriere could be in the hundreds of millions of dollars.
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