Volcanic eruption on St. Vincent: – Stine fled from the volcano:

Ever since January, the people of the Caribbean island of St. Vincent have been aware that something could happen.

On Thursday came the message they all feared: A volcanic eruption was imminent.

Half a day later it literally narrowed from the volcano La Soufriere.

Had to evacuate

Norwegian Stine Herberg, originally from Rjukan, is one of approximately 16,000 inhabitants who have had to flee from the areas around the volcano. She describes the last 24 hours as very dramatic.

Dagbladet calls her shortly after she has arrived in the city of Buccament – and security. Then, after 18 hours on the move, she had finally ingested some food.

– It exploded again about 15 minutes ago. I’m sitting here humming a little now. Looking at pictures of what has happened. It is completely unreal, she says in the introduction, before she starts to tell in more detail about the unreal day she and thousands of others have left behind.

So far no injuries have been reported in connection with today’s volcanic eruption, but late Friday night Norwegian time came Prime Minister Ralph Gonsvalves with another appeal to the inhabitants of Red Sons:

“Please leave if you are in red zones – for your health and for your life.”

In the «red» zone

St. Vincent is an island in the island state of St. Vincent and the Grenadines. It is located east of the Caribbean Sea, north of Venezuela, west of Barbados and south of Guadeloupe.

The island state has about 110,000 inhabitants, and around 16,000 of them live in what became the red zone on Thursday afternoon local time.

Norske Herberg runs the folk high school Richmond Vale Academy on the northwest side of the island, at the foot of the volcano La Soufriere. Here, Herberg and its employees teach sustainable development, organic farming and maritime conservation.

Adjacent to the school, they have a 30-acre organic farm with livestock and horses.

Evacuated horses

In the afternoon on Thursday local time, the people of St. Vincent who live near the volcano were told to evacuate.

– When the evacuation order came, we had to find out how to evacuate the horses, which are not used to anything but green grass, in a chaos, says Herberg.

The students were sent home in January.

– Then it started to rumble in the volcano, and we were told that something could happen, she continues.

Nobody knew what, but then there was more activity. On Thursday, the alarm went off.

– Very scared

At 08.41 local time on Friday it narrowed from the volcano. In the pictures from the place you see a huge cloud of smoke and ash rising from the volcano. The ash and smoke cloud is said to have risen 6,000 meters into the air, according to local emergency services.

When it was narrow, she, the staff and the horses had gotten some distance from Richmond Vale.

– When it exploded, there were suitcases, families, ambulances, honking cars and buses – all at once on the road. You think you’re in a movie, it’s shaking and you think it’s war. That a big bomb has gone off. There are such great forces of nature, says Herberg.

– What did you think when it slammed?

– I was very scared, even though we had come a long way. We were kind of safe, but it was nerve-wracking.

Had to go

When the evacuation order came on Thursday afternoon, Herberg’s focus was to get the employees and the horses in safety and away from the folk high school.

The first piece they had to go.

– The first half hour we had to go with the horses, and then it was completely dark. Then we came to a small village, and there it was very chaotic even though people did everything we could to stay calm.

Then it was four and a half hours with further walking for Herberg and the horses.

– Then we came about halfway, and we had to stop for a few hours before we got on by car. We had to put some of the horses at a hydroelectric power plant, she says.

– Many line up

Now she is in Buccament – in safety. The city is in a valley, so she no longer sees the volcano, but she sees traces of it.

– We see that there is a lot of ash. When we drove downhill, it was like having snow on the route, only that it was ash, says Herberg.

While Dagbladet interviews Herberg, something unexpected happens.

– Now it slams again. Now I hear it.

The local news media News 784 describes the new explosion as “massive”, but it should not have been as big as the first.

Praises the authorities

Despite the partly chaotic conditions she and many with her have experienced in the last 24 hours, she cannot praise the authorities in the small island state enough.

– It is important to point out that this is a tiny little country with few resources, and I think they have made a fantastic effort to take care of the population, she says.

The “neighbors” have also lined up.

– The neighboring islands have made a lot of resources available. Cruise ships have been sent from Barbados, taking hundreds of people off the island. There are many who show up with the few funds they have.

Can last for months

Now the inhabitants of the island, which originate from the “red” zones, will have to settle for an uncertain future.

Scientists do not know how long the volcanic eruption will last.

– This can last for days, weeks, even months, says Erouscilla Joseph, director of the Seismic Center at the University of the West Indies, to Washington Post.

The last eruption of the volcano occurred in 1979. The largest eruption occurred in 1902 and killed around 1,600 people.

–