Montserrat, W.I. July 21, 1995
Lang Volcano Rouses the Sleeping Soufriere Hills
It was business as usual for most of the island this week, but from Plymouth east to Long Ground
and south to St. Patrick’s every eye was fixed on the soufriere hills.
The hills have been the centre of attraction on the island since late Tuesday evening when
residents were perplexed by a sound that turned out to be movement in the mountains. The
reality was that a volcano which lay dormant was awakening. At first official attention focused on
what are generally believed to be the most important soufrieres, Lower Gages, Tipper Gages
and Galways. Disaster preparedness officials appeared to pin point the activity around the
Spring Ghaut soufriere, but by mid-morning Wednesday the focus shifted to Tar River in the far
east then to Paradise where it was determined that most of the action was centred around a
hitherto little known volcano.
Since then it has been confirmed that it was discovered and named by Professor Lang in the
early 1970’s. However, apart from confirmation that it was the source of the explosions, little else
has been said about it. Officials from the Seismic Unit were back in the Paradise area yesterday
but up late last night they were still to analyze their findings.
Last night Chief Minister Meade said that although activity seems to have subsided, ‘we must not
forget to be cautious and the emergency operation centre will remain on alert.’ At the same time
he revealed that they were working on volcanic hazard mapping on the basis of the location of
the activities in the Lang area to determine zones subsequent activity in that area are most likely
to affect.
Governor Frank Savage and the Chief Minister in their nightly press briefing discounted
suggestions that they were seeking to manage to information. And the Governor responding to
concerns that information was being disseminated on two fronts explained that as governor he
has additional external relations responsibilities. “I have given briefings which the Chief Minister
has not been privy too, but I can assure you the briefing I am giving to those expatriates is totally
consistent to the briefings which are going out to everybody else,” he said.
The governor also confirmed that contingency plans are classified as secret. “We don’t share
those plans with the public because sometimes it does involve classified information,” he
declared. However, some observers are concerned that so much is known about hurricane
shelters while so little is apparently available when it relates to earthquake, volcano or any other
natural or man made disaster. The Chief Minister said all of the systems had been tested and
mobilized but based on advice from the seismologists they backed off and went back to a lower
level of preparedness.
One expert suggested that the activity was a culmination of seismic activity which has been
affecting the island since 1992. The situation has been monitored by the Seismic research Unit
in Trinidad, and according to the head of the Unit, their intention is to ‘try to reduce the effect in
case of an eruption.’ “ You cannot stop and in most cases you can’t predict it,” he added.
Dr. William .Ambeh said that although there may be signs, they do not necessarily mean that
there will be an eruption. “Based on experience and looking at examples from other parts of the
world we eventually draw some conclusions,” he said. Adding “but there are always uncertainties
associated with conclusions that we draw.”
Up to late last night there was no definitive position on the activity which reached a height when
what were reported as ‘volcanic explosions’ threw molten material and ash up to 400 meters in
the air.
But Chief Minister Meade said the impression conveyed to him by seismic officials is that ‘the
readings which they are taking at the Gages Soufriere are consistent with the readings taken six
months ago.’
In the final analysis the governor conceded that ‘we have a situation that we cannot quantify, it
would be wrong to say that we can.’ He said it was a very committed effort by the government of
Montserrat. “We are giving the people of Montserrat the very best assistance we can and I hope
that they are reassured,” he added.
Governor Savage commended the officers of the Emergency Operating Centre for their services
over the period. However, the centre remained off limits and efforts by the press to obtain first
hand knowledge of the operations have so far been unsuccessful.
The last volcanic eruption here is believed to have occurred over 300 years ago. And the
experts have suggested that, it was not recorded as a major phenomenon.
In more recent times, heavy seismic activity linked to the eight or nine soufrieres on the island
occurred in the 1930’s and 1960’s.
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