Volcanic activity in St Vincent: Scientists rush to study possibilities

Volcanoes that have been quiet for decades are overshadowing life in the eastern Caribbean, prompting authorities to issue alerts in Martinique and St. Vincent and the Grenadines as scientists say they are rushing to study activity not seen for years.

The most recent warning was issued late Tuesday for the La Soufriere volcano in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, a chain of islands home to more than 100,000 people. Officials reported shocks, strong gas emissions, the formation of a new volcanic dome and changes in its crater lake.

The Emergency Management Agency, Caribbean Disaster, said that scientists saw "a terrible explosion within the crater with gas and steam".

The government warned those living near the volcano that an orange alert should be declared if needed, which means the eruption could occur for less than 24 hours.

La Soufriere, located near the northern tip of the main island of St. Vincent, exploded for the last time in 1979 and the last eruption in 1902 killed about 1,600 people.

More than 30,000 people died, shortly before it exploded and destroyed in the town of Saint-Pierre of Mount Pele, Martinique.

Mount Pelee is also active once again. In early December, authorities in the French Caribbean region issued a yellow alert due to seismic activity under the mountain. It told the Associated Press that it had been issued since the volcano's last eruption in 1932, with Fabrice Fontaine, Martinique's volcano and the Seismic Observatory, the first of its kind alert.

While the East Caribbean has a long-range of active and extinct volcanoes, Mount Pelé and La Saufere activity are unrelated, said Eric Klemetti, a volcanologist at Denison University in Ohio.

"It's not like a volcano erupts, which other people would do," he said. "It falls under the category of coincidence." He said the activity is evidence that magma is tilting towards the surface, although he said scientists still don't have a very good understanding of what happens that is controlled by how quickly.

"The answers are not entirely satisfactory," he said. "It is a science that is still being researched."

Klemetti said the most active volcano in the eastern Caribbean in recent years was the Suirere Hills in Montserrat, which has been erupting since 1995, destroying Plymouth's capital and killing at least 19 people in 1997.

The eastern Caribbean's 19 live volcanoes are located on 11 islands, with the remaining two underwater near the island of Granada, including Kick JM Genie, which has been active in recent years.