La Palma eruption – October 2022

La Palma eruption – October 2022

Monthly summary

Work has begun to on the La Laguna – Las Norias road across the lava flow field to install streetlights, allowing the road to be open 24 hours a day. Previously the road, which sees 5,500 crossings per day, was only open from 6am-10pm, which prevented the ability of some people to work or return to their homes if their work was on the other side of the lava flows, according to president of the Las Manchas Resident’s Association Jenny Sanchez. She is also fighting for a new road across the lava flows along the route of the old LP-2, which would provide a much quicker link for those towards the east of the affected areas on both sides of the lava flows.

In terms of reconstruction, the biggest debate remains whether it should be practical or allowed to further expropriate the land covered by the lava flows. This question should be answered in the full plan for the reconstruction of the island, although has not yet been drafted and it could be the end of the year before it is presented. Meanwhile, the city council of Los Llanos have already received more than 20 requests to build on the lava flows.

Concerning housing, those affected have been granted permission to apply to build homes on specially protected land, which improves the options for those affected wanting to re-build. However, others are concerned that, as has been argued with other elements of the reconstruction, that the ‘emergency’ declaration of these decrees means they can ignore environmental regulations which could harm the island in the long term.

The neighbours’ associations of affected people have announced that there will be ongoing protests on the 19th of every month on La Palma, highlighting injustices in the reconstruction process. One of the biggest fights currently is to ensure those whose houses were buried beneath the lava flows are compensated for the value of the land before the eruption, when current government plans are to value the land based on its current value, which will be much lower.

Monitoring of the cooling of the cone and lava flows, gas levels, and many more parameters continue. Although the lava flows and cone continue to cool, temperatures of >800°C are still being recorded in the cone just a few metres below the surface in places, and in the extensive fumarole fields that are present on the cone. Furthermore, as the cone cools and contracts, more landslides and larger cracks are developing within it. These trends are normal and are expected to continue for many years at least. Elsewhere, geophysical research lead by INVOLCAN and other institutions has imaged the “sleeping” subsurface magma reservoir that fed the eruption for the first time, which could be millions of years old. More information can be found here: www.tinyurl.com/3yn3zrz3.

Finally, La Bombilla and Puerto Naos remain evacuated due to high CO2 concentrations, and a local man was arrested after bypassing the security perimeter to stay in his house overnight. The latest access updates allow people to access their homes daily for maintenance and cleaning, when accompanied by security personnel with gas monitors, provided the gas concentrations are safe. The Cabildo has also announced that 160 homes have been planned to be built specifically for those evicted from La Bombilla and Puerto Naos, although the land for these plans has not yet been procured and an estimated date of completion has not been given.

Sources: La Palma Ahora, Cabildo de La Palma, El Time, ABC España

News articles

  • El Time – Cone zones remain at 843ºC, ten months after the end of the eruption – here
  • ABC España -They locate huge cracks in the volcano of La Palma – here
  • El Time – Some 5,500 vehicles circulate daily on the La Laguna – Las Norias highway – here
  • El Time – Involcan asks gov to “get a move on” to face volcanic risk that will increase in the Canary Islands – here
  • El Time – CC: “We are concerned that there are farmers who are left without help to fix their farms when the Government said that everyone would be helped” – here
  • El Time – The probability of a new eruption in La Palma in the next 50 years is 48.7% – here
  • El Time – Torres advances that the state budget includes 36 million more in aid for victims of the volcano – here
  • El Time – The main section of the Camino de Las Norias reopened that allows access to more isolated homes – here
  • El Time – 37 year old man arrested for staying in his home in Puerto Naos – here
  • El Time – Statements by Mariano Zapata on the sectorized and regulated access of residents to Puerto Naos and La Bombilla – here
  • El Time – Los Llanos accumulates 114,000 € in undistributed aid to students from families affected by the volcano – here
  • Cabildo de La Palma – coordinating the cleaning of the common areas of the Puerto Naos buildings – here
  • La Palma Ahora – Jennifer Sánchez: “Not even half of the residents have been able to return 10 months after the eruption” – here
  • El Time – Those affected by the volcano will be able to build on specially protected land – here
  • ABC España – Those affected by the volcano will take to the streets on the 19th of each month: “They will not shut us up” – here
  • La Palma Ahora – Involcan detects “a large magma reserve” under La Palma that fueled the 2021 eruption – here
  • La Palma Ahora – The installation of the lighting of the La Laguna-Las Norias highway begins – here
  • La Palma Ahora – Public Works plans the construction of 160 homes to serve the evicted from La Bombilla and Puerto Naos- here
  • La Palma Ahora – Franquis assumes a “structural problem” of toxic gases in Puerto Naos and La Bombilla – here
  • ABC España – IGN reveals that it had the map of the possible trajectory of the lava days before the eruption – here
  • La Palma Ahora – The Cabildo allocates 3.4 million euros more for the recovery of communications affected by the volcanic eruption- here          

To see our full news archive, visit our open data section or click here.

Photography

Access photography taken around this time

  • Resiste La Palma – The state of the road between La Laguna and Las Norias as of October 2022 – here
  • Resiste La Palma – LP2 viewed from Las Manchas – here
  • Resiste La Palma – INVOLCAN workers observing fumarole activity within the volcanic exclusion zone – here
  • Resiste La Palma – Work begins on the road in ​​Las Norias – here

Environment maps

The exclusion zones and road construction plans shown here have been approximated from press releases from the Cabildo de La Palma and will not be exact, nor claim to be official maps of the exclusion zones and road construction. For official information, please contact the Cabildo de La Palma.

News and Interviews

Access our archive of news articles here.

Interactive Road construction map

Come back soon to access this map.

Animated Exclusion zone map

No Comments

Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.