Ten days after violently awakening, a volcano on the Indian Ocean island of Reunion continued spewing lava on Sunday in what experts called "the eruption of the century."
But the Piton de la Fournaise volcano on eastern Reunion had lulled considerably, and residents remained out of danger.
Tourists and residents have been able to take in the sights of the smouldering lava and magma being tossed as high as skyscrapers.
PHOTO: AFP
"We can call it the eruption of the century," said Zacharie Duputel, a seismologist based at the Volcano Observatory on Reunion island. "We have never observed such a phenomenon."
The eruption resulted in the collapse of the volcano's summit, with magma at times being spewed as high as 200m into the air.
The lava had cut off a national highway as it spurted toward the sea at 60kph, creating clouds of gas as it made contact with water. Sulphur dioxide levels in the gas have not been measured at dangerous levels.
Lava flow had been estimated at three million cubic meters per day.
On Sunday, lava leapt only 10m into the air, according to the observatory. There was less activity within the crater, though entire sections of rock continued to collapse.
Some people with memories of damage caused by previous eruptions were not enjoying the show. Eight houses were destroyed by lava in 1986.
About 100 residents were evacuated from a village in southeastern Reunion on Friday, with some believing they could see lava approaching.
They were allowed to return to their homes two hours later, however. What was believed to be lava turned out to be a forest fire caused by burning ashes.
About a dozen families have decided not to return to their homes anyway, said Guy Riviere, deputy mayor for the eastern city of Saint-Philippe and an agent for the Office of National Forests. He said they planned to return home after the volcano's activity reduced further.
While houses have not been affected, residents continue to hear loud rumbling in addition to seeing the burning forested area.
"The atmosphere is gloomy in the village," Riviere said.
About 300 hectares of primary forest has been destroyed over the past 10 days, and some 30 hectares of palm and vanilla plants have burnt. Timber used for cabinet-making that is not found elsewhere on the island was heavily damaged.
The collapse of the Swiss Birch glacier serves as a chilling warning of the escalating dangers faced by communities worldwide living under the shadow of fragile ice, particularly in Asia, experts said. Footage of the collapse on Wednesday showed a huge cloud of ice and rubble hurtling down the mountainside into the hamlet of Blatten. Swiss Development Cooperation disaster risk reduction adviser Ali Neumann said that while the role of climate change in the case of Blatten “still needs to be investigated,” the wider impacts were clear on the cryosphere — the part of the world covered by frozen water. “Climate change and
Poland is set to hold a presidential runoff election today between two candidates offering starkly different visions for the country’s future. The winner would succeed Polish President Andrzej Duda, a conservative who is finishing his second and final term. The outcome would determine whether Poland embraces a nationalist populist trajectory or pivots more fully toward liberal, pro-European policies. An exit poll by Ipsos would be released when polls close today at 9pm local time, with a margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points. Final results are expected tomorrow. Whoever wins can be expected to either help or hinder the
DENIAL: Musk said that the ‘New York Times was lying their ass off,’ after it reported he used so much drugs that he developed bladder problems Elon Musk on Saturday denied a report that he used ketamine and other drugs extensively last year on the US presidential campaign trail. The New York Times on Friday reported that the billionaire adviser to US President Donald Trump used so much ketamine, a powerful anesthetic, that he developed bladder problems. The newspaper said the world’s richest person also took ecstasy and mushrooms, and traveled with a pill box last year, adding that it was not known whether Musk also took drugs while heading the so-called US Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) after Trump took power in January. In a
It turns out that looming collision between our Milky Way and Andromeda galaxies might not happen after all. Astronomers on Monday said that the probability of the two spiral galaxies colliding is less than previously thought, with a 50-50 chance within the next 10 billion years. That is essentially a coin flip, but still better odds than previous estimates and farther out in time. “As it stands, proclamations of the impending demise of our galaxy seem greatly exaggerated,” the Finnish-led team wrote in a study appearing in Nature Astronomy. While good news for the Milky Way galaxy, the latest forecast might be moot