a74a4c4f-6618-4a60-a763-f6323d54b8c9

The La Palma Project

As a Geoscience education company, with a special interest in responsible science communication, based in the Canary Islands, we were in a unique position to document the 2021 Volcán de Tajogaite eruption in La Palma. We wanted to ensure our resources could be put to good use during the volcanic emergency and beyond to benefit the residents and tourists alike. The La Palma project by GeoTenerife is a multi-media project which aims to increase the awareness and understanding of volcanic activity, volcanic emergency plans, and reconstruction in La Palma. Our self-funded research on La Palma has led to our award-winning documentaries “Lava Bombs: Truths Behind the Volcano” and “Lava Bombs 2: The Reconstruction” is due for release in winter 2023. Our work is open access, in non-specialist language, and resident-focused.

Latest update of La Palma Reconstruction - September 2023

  • €100 million for reconstruction: At a meeting in Madrid, the President of the Canary Islands has again pressed the Spanish Government over the delay in the execution of the €100 million in aid included in this year’s state budget for the reconstruction of La Palma. The President has received a commitment to do this from the finance minister of the Spanish Government.
  • Housing: The latest figures show that 65 people affected by the volcano remain housed in hotels, almost two years since the eruption ended.
  • Environment: The Palmera Ecologist Platform has denounced the use of emergency declarations for many projects relating to post-volcano recovery to skip essential stages of the environmental impact assessment process.
  • Puerto Naos and La Bombilla: The gradual return of residents to some parts of La Bombilla and Puerto Naos evacuated due to high diffuse CO2 emissions, has been delayed a few days as necessary gas meters are still detained in customs and have not arrived.

WANT TO LEARN MORE ABOUT THE 2021 VOLCÁN DE TAJOGAITE ERUPTION?

Lava Bombs: Truths Behind The Volcano captures the explosive stories behind the crisis and response to the 2021 Volcán de Tajogaite eruption in Cumbre Vieja on La Palma in the Canary Islands. Lava Bombs reveals the heavy impact of this major disaster, through the voices of the affected people, emergency managers, politicians and scientists, as well as showcasing spectacular imagery captured by witnesses, news crews and drone pilots. Themes of communication, trust and missteps are analysed as we start to look towards lessons learned for future emergencies of all kinds

Release date: 19 September 2022 • See more: www.lavabombsfilm.com • Available on Amazon Prime, Apple TV and Google Play.

The 2021 Tajogaite eruption was the largest and most destructive eruption in La Palma for the last 500 years. It caused around €1 billion in damage, displacing over 7,000 people, and destroying 3,000 buildings, 2,000 of which were people’s homes. 

Scientific summary of the evolution of the La Palma 2021 eruption

La Palma earthquakes animation September 11th 2021 - December 25th 2021

Lava flow animation of the 2021 La Palma eruption

A collection of interviews with witnesses of the 2021 La Palma Eruption, conducted by GeoTenerife. These interviews were later used in the Lava Bombs: The Truth behind the Volcano documentary.

Yasmina Rodríguez Pérez shares her experience living on La Palma the day Tajogaite erupted

Livestreams held during the eruption by volcanologists and volcano science students explain the events unfolding on La Palma.

Our resident expert, volcanologist Alexis Schwartz; our GeoInterns Ben Ireland, Rosie Rice and Ryan Bailey; and Director Sharon Backhouse put the science in context and counter sensationalism in interviews with local, national and international media outlets during the volcanic eruption of La Palma.

Charities to support affected residents

Here are the charity campaigns we have supported/run for the affected residents of the La Palma eruption

Here you can find our glossary of Volcanic terms, complete with examples and explanations specific to the 2021 eruption on La Palma. You can download the glossary here in pdf or doc

ERRORS AND OMMISSIONS: VolcanoStories represents our best endeavour to reflect the eruption of Volcán de Tajogaite accurately, but we fully accept it may contain errors and omissions for which we apologise in advance and ask for your HELP. We encourage individuals or institutions who see an ERROR or who would like to CONTRIBUTE further material to help in this endeavour please contact us.

VolcanoStories content is freely available for students, educational establishments and academics – all we ask is that you cite “GeoTenerife’s VolcanoStories”. 

However, the content is not to be used for commercial use. Any media or commercial outlet wanting to use any content herein should contact us in writing in the first instance via enquiries@geotenerife.com.

For more detail, refer to our Terms of Use.