The director of the National Geographic Institute (IGN) in the Canary Islands, María José Blanco, has specified the information offered in her statements on May 26, in the Study Commission on the effects of the volcanic crisis and reconstruction on the island of La Palma developed in the Parliament of the Canary Islands, with some details that could rewrite the history of the volcano.
As Blanco has pointed out, based on the La Palma seismicity report, the IGN warned of an “imminent emergency”, although “at the meeting of the Pevolca Scientific Committee on September 19, 2021, each participating institution presented the analysis of the information that each one had, making a forecast” and “no agreement was reached” so the traffic light remained yellow
despite the threat.
In that presentation, he indicated, “all the institutions agreed that the process could have a short-term evolution, but no agreement was reached on whether this period was hours or days, and the qualification of the eruption as imminent.
The agreement for the report of the Scientific Committee established the following wording: “The process continues and may have a rapid evolution in the short term. At this time, the process is in a pre-eruptive phase, with a greater probability that it will culminate in an eruption, without evidence, at this time, that allows establishing a temporary window.
The director of the IGN in the Canary Islands has clarified that “the PEVOLCA Management Committee made its decisions based on the reports agreed by the Scientific Committee”, in which several scientific and civil entities intervene.
In any case, he recalled that the evacuations began before the start of the eruption and the traffic light changed and that they had been prepared through informative talks held days before the eruption, in the apparently most threatened places. On the other hand, those affected have been quick to point out that this was not done in all the neighborhoods or with all the neighbors, since the volcano was expected to open in Jedey, and not in Cabeza de Vaca.
The evacuations and the meetings were carried out with the residents of certain areas, while the residents who finally suffered the first minutes of the eruption did not participate. Evacuations in certain areas were carried out urgently once the eruption began, with no possibility for residents to take anything from their homes.
