Madrid, (Samajweekly) An additional 300 people were evacuated from their homes due to the ongoing eruption of the Cumbre Vieja volcano on the Spanish island of La Palma, local authorities said.
On Tuesday, 700 people were ordered to leave their homes, meaning that around 7,000 of the island’s approximately 80,000 inhabitants now live in temporary accommodation, reports Xinhua news agency.
The three active lava flows have surged since the partial collapse of the northern face of the volcano on October 9.
Data collected by the European Union’s (EU) Copernicus satellite show that lava has already engulfed around 680 hectares of land (the island has an area of 70,800 hectares) by Thursday, 34 hectares more than on the previous day.
Satellite images show that over 1,600 buildings have been impacted by the lava flows.
Of these, 1,548 have been destroyed and the rest are at risk.
The current eruption is now on its 26th day and has already lasted five days longer than the 1971 eruption, which was the last to affect the island.
Earlier on Thursday, La Palma was once again rocked by more than 50 tremors.
The maximum magnitude measured 4.5 on the Richter scale, the strongest since the start of the eruption.
