FEATURE

Volcano

A Story of SurvivalBy Wayne Bowen

Carib Xplorer senior

writer and photographer

Wayne Bowen travelled to

Montserrat for this story.

Since his visit some

things in Montserrat have

changed, including the

government , but many

others remain the same.

Montserrat has a volcano. And it’s been exhaling. That makes things potentially dangerous for many of those living there. Scientists say volcanic eruptions formed the island millions of years ago. Now it’s rumbling again. Regular ash and lava flows have created new fans of land, extending the coast into the sea at the volcano’s base. Ever since July 1995 when this new cycle started, volcanic activity has been ongoing, even leading to loss of life. By 1997 the eruptions forced a mass evacuation of the island. The ‘big one’ could come at any time – in minutes, hours, days,

weeks, months or centuries. Not even the scientists working at Mont-serrat’s Volcano Observatory can be sure when the next big eruption will occur.

Living here can sometimes be dif-ficult. The stresses caused by the uncertainty are tremendous. In spite of this, Montserratians are generally welcoming. Perhaps even more so than people on several other Carib-bean islands where tourism is the number one industry. Montserrat too is trying to attract more visitors, but it’s not an easy sell. Access to the island is limited, with few flights or

Fury

boats, and the volcano’s unpredict-ability is a serious deterrent. The for-mer capital, Plymouth, was one of the Caribbean’s most picturesque towns. Today it’s like a disaster movie set, an uninhabitable ghost town covered in ash. It lies in a direct path down-hill from the Chances Peak volcano, which is also called Soufriere. Rivers of lava and ash – called pyroclastic flows – have buried some buildings up to their roofs. Where people used to live, breathe, play dominoes and follow West Indies cricket, is now ash covered and still. And it’s not the only part of the island with abandoned properties. Sometimes ash fell daily, spreading over the entire island and even over the islands nearby. Volcanic ash is hard to clean up. The fine par-ticles seep into everywhere. Dirty-ing clothes. Damaging lungs. When it falls heavily, it’s like snow, blanketing everything with cement coloured uni-formity. Thousands have lost every-thing - houses, land, crops, livestock, cars, other prized possessions and jobs – to encroaching ash. More than half of the estimated 12,000 people who lived here before the ‘first erup-tions’ have left the country. Most are unlikely to return. Two-thirds of the island is considered dangerous and is declared an ‘exclusion zone’, though some restrictions have eased in recent years.

On a typical day, Montserrat seems just like any other island – beautiful and easy-going. But the dislocations caused by volcanic activity have been difficult to bear. Things got really bad on Boxing Day (26th December) 1997. Most people were shaken and scared. Evacuation from vulner-able areas was ordered. Many more decided that this time staying was not viable. There was understand-able chaos and panic. Shelters were overwhelmed. Families were some-times separated and forced to share accommodation with others. This

caused major personal and domestic upheavals – leading to an increase in conditions of mental stress and mental breakdown as well as in marital and family rifts, sometimes leading even to violence. People lost their jobs. Money was scarce. Landlords were accused of price gouging and charging unreasonable rents. There was a lot of finger point-ing. Eventually things calmed down and some of the people who left returned. The public services which were initially overwhelmed started to recover and have been reorganized. Health services are now considered much better than they were before the eruptions started. A new hospital was built in the north of the island, which has been designated the safest area. Clinics in the ‘safe zone’ have also been rehabilitated. Well publi-cized disaster response protocols have been put in place in case there needs to be a sudden and total evacuation in the future.

Montserrat is a British dependency. Britain’s handling of events has drawn quick criticism. The decision against forcible evacuation of the island even after scientists found the air qual-ity below British legal minimums has been particularly contentious. Studies suggest that anyone living on Mont-serrat now risks contracting serious respiratory problems in the future. Yet many of the estimated 3,500 people still on island say they will never leave. Some believe the ‘Mother Country’ prefers not to have too many island immigrants anyway, so why leave to suffer in the cold – bet-ter to suffer where you know. There’s dissatisfaction with the pace of infrastructure recovery and economic options. Feelings that Britain can do more are deep-seated. Charges of racism have been made. The claims have been denied but as a result, Britain has changed how they work

View of volcano

with Montserrat and their other overseas territories. Britain’s internal investigations have given the disaster response efforts a fair grade, while suggesting tweaks. (Governments on nearby islands might learn something from studying the approach taken on Montserrat.) On the defensive, some public officials have asked what should be done if people want to stay somewhere unsafe. Possibly fearing huge lawsuits in the future, there have been radio programmes and a widely distributed leaflet, warning people of the possible dangers to their health by not leaving. A past study in Trinidad linked the annual drift of Sahara dust from Africa to spikes in respiratory problems there. No one will be able to say they weren’t warned. Islands

close to Montserrat may also suffer declines in their air quality because of their proximity, but so far regional governments don’t seem too worried about it.

While British motives and plans aren’t always welcome in Montserrat, local leaders are also roundly criti-cized at times by citizens. Elections are held for local politicians who run the country with funds provided by London, but the British appointed governor has ultimate power and authority over decisions. It is some-times an easy fall back crutch to blame the governor for the lack of movement on certain issues. Some-times it’s true, sometimes it isn’t. Peo-ple have been critical of the pace of

reconstruction efforts, of the amounts of aid received locally, of people from outside brought in to do work being paid exorbitant sums of money. There has also been criticism of the scientists at the volcano observatory for declar-ing certain areas unsafe zones. There are deep-seated suspicions that Britain is not doing enough to help Montser-rat’s recovery. A new airport has been built but it’s not as big as the old one. Ferry services between Montserrat and Antigua have now ended.

“At least 16 volcanoes exist in the Caribbean, some of them under the sea. ”

FEATURE

View from a hill in Montserrat. Some abandoned modern wind generating propellors can be seen on the hillsides.

Here a photographer gets a shot while steam (probably ash) spews from the volcano and blankets everything like fog.

Montserrat Volcano Observatory

New housing has also been built although some locals say the units are too small. As inadequate as some argue British aid has been, it’s doubt-ful that most Caribbean governments would have been able to do as much in a similar time span. The truth is that rebuilding the sort of infrastruc-ture Montserrat requires will take huge amounts of money. How many governments anywhere in the world would want to spend when their own experts say that there’s every chance another eruption in the future will destroy things again? How many pri-vate sector investors would take this risk? In the meantime people on the ground suffer and cry for economic deliverance. In 2009 the volcano started behaving dangerously again. It coincided with political eruptions which led to the Legislative Council being disbanded and new elections being called a full two years before they were due. Power brokers called it a crisis of governance, ineptitude and ego.

A mountain of rebuilding work still needs to be done. The volcano itself may eventually be targeted to gener-ate energy and economic opportuni-ties. A similar operation has started in nearby Nevis. The plans are ambitious but if they work it could be a way for Montserrat and other Caribbean is-lands to gain more financial freedom. What is being done in Nevis is an attempt to generate electricity from the volcano. This can then be used to power the island but even more interestingly, the energy can be sold to other islands as well via undersea cables! It should also be possible to store the energy in batteries for sale anywhere in the world. These could take the form of huge power barges that could be towed into place and returned for recharging later. If such a plan proves workable it could be revolutionary.

Events on Montserrat seem to have some lessons for the rest of the region. They show how critical it is to have well oiled Disaster Response Units. It may also be useful to have similar protocols, training and equip-ment in use throughout the islands. Are there any teams with sniffer dogs to locate people still alive but buried after earthquakes? Can they be moved quickly to different loca-tions? Is enough machinery in place to remove debris after earthquakes or floods? Can they work quickly and safely and are they mobile? The

Montserrat volcano, also known as Soufriere or Chances Peak, was thought to be extinct. It had not erupted since Christopher Columbus’ invasion of the region in the late 15th century. It means that other islands with dormant or ‘extinct’ volcanoes may one day find themselves facing events like those in Montserrat. At least 16 volcanoes exist in the Caribbean, some of them under the sea. Long-term planning needs to be done and constantly updated about how to treat those affected not just by future volcanic eruptions, but by all other natu-ral disasters.

FEATURE

MILE HIGH CLUB - Flying over Montserrat.Getting in and out of the island is limited to a few scheduled flights per week or bumming a ride on a boat.

The Caribbean is potentially one of the most disaster prone regions in the world. Annual hurricanes are usually seen as the greatest threats, but extreme flooding, landslides and droughts are not uncommon, while tsunamis and earthquakes are also real possibilities. In November 2007 an earthquake described as one of the strongest ever to hit the region was felt from the Virgin Islands in the north, all the way down through the islands to Barbados and Trinidad and then south to Guyana and Venezuela. One day such an event might trigger terrifying disasters in several islands simultaneously. In foresight regional governments have come together and a tsunami early warning system for the region is presently being devel-oped. Each island also has its own di-saster preparedness teams that share ideas with each other. Flirting with di-saster is not unique to the Caribbean, as many of the world’s biggest cities are situated in areas that also make them extremely vulnerable to natural disasters. The Caribbean, though, is home to six of the ten most disaster prone countries in the world!

What can be learnt from Montser-rat’s experiences to ensure as quick response and recovery as possible after disaster strikes? In Montser-rat and the wider Caribbean people hope their leaders will take the deci-sions that bring happiness, security and economic prosperity. These are universal desires, and people every-where are waiting to exhale. CX

“The volcano may eventually be targeted to generate energy and economic opportunities.”

Plymouth, the former capital, covered by a river of lava and ash. Some buildings have been buried up to their roofs.