Merry Christmas!

Canary Islands

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The best Christmas present. It's official now. The eruption of the Cumbre Vieja volcano has come to an end. After a period of ten days without signs of activity, the authorities have released the news that was expected from 2:10 p.m. on September 19th. It has been decreed that the eruption has been exhausted, but not the outcome of the emergency.

"The eruption is over," announced Julio Pérez, Minister of Public Administrations of the Canary Islands. "It ended on December 13, in the afternoon, but it can only be said today, when it has been verified, by the scientific committee, the persistence of the signs that make it possible to have that certainty".

Pérez has assured that "there is no lava, there are no pyroclasts, there are no significant gases, there are no significant earthquakes, there is no tremor, there are no significant deformations."

The counselor explained that the eruption lasted 85 days and 8 hours.

The emergency continues on La Palma

Although the official end of the eruption has been decreed, this does not mean that the emergency device will end. Not much less. The spokesperson for the Pevolca steering committee, Miguel Ángel Morcuende, had already announced that although the eruptive phenomenon was exhausted, the degassing in the lava flows and in the volcanic building is still continuing.

For this reason, the experts will continue to analyze the evolution of the volcano and the safety device will remain active while the essential services are being rehabilitated. Precisely, the greatest concern now corresponds to that of toxic gases that may have accumulated, for example, in homes in the exclusion area and their plumbing systems.

The owners of these homes are still recommended to come accompanied when cleaning their homes and to ventilate the rooms frequently. However, the indicators of the last days are also positive with regard to air quality. Levels continue not to exceed alert thresholds in the Llanos de Aridane and gas emissions have been occasional and sporadic in the area of the eruptive cones.

Damage caused by the volcano

The figures for the disaster caused by the eruption on La Palma are dizzying. From the Ministry of Finance of the Canary Islands Government, it has been estimated that the damages exceed 840 million euros. In these more than three months, 7,000 people have been evacuated from their homes. On the same Christmas Eve, there were still 560 people staying in three hotels and 43 in social and health centers.

According to the analysis of the Copernicus satellite program, it is estimated that the different lava flows have affected some 3,216 constructions, of which 2,988 would be totally destroyed and 138 partially, but we will still have to wait to know the final data.

Although the first temporary prefabricated houses or those acquired by the Administrations to house some of those affected have already been delivered, there is still work to be done. The Government of Spain approved on December 17, in the Council of Ministers, a new aid package. The Minister of the Presidency, Félix Bolaños, announced that the Executive's forecast is that before the end of the year, up to 230 million euros will have been mobilized.

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