The lava from the La Palma volcano has a height of six meters and advances at 700 meters per hour

Lava flow caused by the eruption of the volcano on the Spanish island of The Palm has an average height of six meters, has so far emitted between 6,000 and 9,000 tons of sulfur dioxide per day and is advancing at 700 meters per hour, destroying houses, crops and infrastructure in its path.

So far, the eruption of the volcano in the municipality of El Paso has not caused personal victims, but it is leaving a “desolate” situation in the area, as explained by the president of the Cabildo, Mariano Hernández Zapata, since the lava “literally eats houses , infrastructures and crops that he finds on his way to the coast of the Aridane valley”.

When there is little left until 24 hours have passed since the eruption, which took place at 3:12 p.m. on Sunday, the new volcano of The Palm, an island that is part of the Atlantic archipelago of the Canary Islands, has already emitted between 6,000 and 9,000 tons of sulfur dioxide (SO2) per day into the atmosphere, according to the first estimate of the Volcanological Institute of the Canary Islands (Involcan).

Meanwhile, more than 5,000 people remain evacuated from their homes to guarantee their safety in the face of this natural disaster that has led the Military Emergency Unit (UME) of the Spanish Army to deploy 67 members and 30 vehicles in La Palma.

This military contingent will increase throughout the morning until reaching 180 troops and 57 vehicles, while three more seaplanes are expected to arrive in the early afternoon, as reported by the Spanish Minister of Defense, Margarita Robles, in an interview on Antena 3 Televisión.

The minister has also declared that the possibility of sending some type of material and personnel specialized in gases is being analyzed in case it is necessary and the Navy is prepared in case it is necessary to “make some type of approach by sea.”

The president of the Red Cross in the Canary Islands, Antonio Rico, has described this natural disaster as a “true catastrophe”.

One has warned of the possibility that “a deterioration of coexistence” is generated on the island of La Palma, by the many neighbors who will see their normal activity interrupted for a time that is impossible to predict and who will “leave behind” good part of his history and his life.

The Red Cross has displaced The Palm Twenty troops who have joined 15 others who were already working on the island to support the people staying in the shelter set up in a former military facility located in Santa Cruz de La Palma, as well as tourists and security personnel and emergencies deployed in the area.

This organization is part of the Civil Protection Plan in which all the administrations involved in this geological phenomenon intervene, including the President of the Spanish Government, Pedro Sánchez, who has been on the island since Sunday.

Sánchez, accompanied by the Minister of the Interior, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, visits this morning the citizens who have been evacuated from their homes and who are staying at the El Fuerte barracks, in Breña Baja, and in the afternoon he plans to tour the area affected by the lava flows together with the president of the Canary Islands, Ángel Víctor Torres.