The director of the National Geographic Institute (IGN) in the Canary Islands, María José Blanco, has made it clear that the threat of a new eruption in the Canary Islands is far from dissipating. Blanco has guaranteed that a volcanic eruption in the Canary Islands will “repeat” again and has predicted that at least this generation will live one more.
He not only foresees it but it is a “of course”, he said, because the volcanic dynamics of the archipelago “is not going to stop”. Faced with this situation, the expert has advocated increasing the training of the population to be “more prepared.”
In addition, it has been blunt with the situation of gas concentration in the area of La Bombilla (La Palma), which is “incompatible with life”
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abc volFor her, “the worst” of the volcanic eruption is now on the coast of Tazacorte and Los Llanos de Aridane, where the emission of gases far exceeds what a living being can withstand.
In an appearance in Parliament before the island’s reconstruction commission, he commented that there is no “forecast” to know when people will be able to return to their homes because it is not known “how long it will last.”
For now, he has detailed that what they are going to do is increase the number of gas measurement stations to carry out zoning, making it clear that in Puerto Naos it is not yet possible to return to the houses, but their situation is better than that of La Bombilla. .
Regarding the eruption, he commented that what surprised them the most was the “speed” compared to that of El Hierro, since the seismic crisis there began in July in the El Golfo Valley and the eruption began in October underwater to the south of La Restinga.
On the other hand, on La Palma, “day by day” the earthquakes were more and more superficial until they reached a point where they knew that it was going to be “imminent”, recognizing that it was “impossible to determine the exact moment of departure of the wash”.
He has also indicated that after each eruption “knowledge is provided for the future”, that is why the El Hierro eruption was learned and now there has been »a great consensus« in the scientific field with »everyone rowing in the same direction and without discrepancies public«.
Regarding management, he has pointed out that all natural hazards must be supervised by a national reference institution, although research is freer and can be carried out by “anyone” and, looking to the future, he has advocated implementing a Geology Degree in the Canary Islands or, failing that, a specialized master’s degree in volcanology.
