On the Canary Island of La Palma there was a volcanic eruption in the area of ​​the Cumbre Vieja on Sunday - around 5.000 residents were evacuated as a precaution.

Nobody has been injured so far - because the island of volcanic origin, on which there was an eruption last in 1971, was prepared. Thousands of small earthquakes during the past few days were a relatively sure indication of what was to come for the volcanologists. People were asked to prepare light luggage and were given information on where to gather in the event of an evacuation. Elderly and disabled people were brought to safety shortly before the outbreak.

No further evacuations are currently planned. Rather, the focus will now be on compensating for the material damage, since "fortunately" no people have suffered any damage to their health. Experts estimate the amount of lava ejected to be between 17 and 20 million cubic meters. Nevertheless, the island's airport is “open and safe”, as Ángel Víctor Torres, the archipelago's president, emphasized.

On Monday night, members of the military emergency unit, the environmental department of the island councils of Tenerife and Gran Canaria, the fire brigade of the Gran Canaria emergency consortium and officers of the General Corps of the Canarian Police were dispatched to the island. The fire brigade of Tenerife is already involved in the work on site together with local forces from the island of La Palma, according to an official broadcast. How long could the outbreak last? "We do not know it. There are eruptions that end after nine days and some that last for years, ”says volcanologist Stavros Meletlidis.