What were the effects of the volcanic eruption on Montserrat?
The Soufrière Hills volcano on Montserrat erupted in April 1995 after 350 years of non-activity. The eruption was of the most violent variety. The lava built up under enormous pressure until it collapsed under its own weight. It cracked and splintered before hurling itself downwards as a pyroclastic flow, one of the deadliest forces in nature. The flows reached temperatures of 600º Celsius and speeds of 120 kilometres an hour. During the eruptions the people had to decide whether to stay and take a chance, or to give up and leave. About two thousand people of the island’s population of 13,000 left the island. In June 1997 another eruption took place and huge chunks of the lava dome gave way and piled down in another pyroclastic flow. It emptied into the ocean, well beyond the coastline and added another square kilometre of new land to the island. Nineteen people were killed, most of them burnt to death in the flows, and hundreds more made homeless. By the year 2000, such was the devast
