Following the eruption of the La Soufriere volcano, certain locations in North Windward are no longer safe to live in. Experts that visited St Vincent following the eruptions revealed this to the government of St Vincent and the Grenadines.
The La Soufriere volcano, which became effusive in 2021, went explosive in April of 2022.
On Wednesday, Finance Minister Camilo Gonsalves said a lot of people have been asking him why the government is moving people from North Windward when many of their homes were not badly damaged. However, Gonsalves said there are other factors beyond damaged homes.
“What we learned from the volcano and what we learned from the experts who came after the eruption is that some of those areas are just not safe to live in. Either if there’s another volcanic eruption or if flooding happens”.
“The volcano has shifted the behaviour of rivers north of Rabacca. The reason why you are hearing people can’t cross the river in Noel and in Overland more than you used to hear before is that the rivers are behaving differently now up there. And the flood plains have shifted now that the volcano has erupted”.
Gonsalves said there are more residents from North Windward to be relocated, which will be done in 2023, costing some $15 million dollars.
