Lava blocks as large as buildings falling from volcanoes in Spain

Spain Volcano: Officials said there were 21 seismic movements on Sunday.

La Palma:

Blocks of molten lava as three-story buildings rolled down a hill on the Spanish island of La Palma, while a series of aftershocks shook the ground on Sunday, three weeks after the volcanic eruption.

The Spanish National Geological Institute (ING) said on Sunday that 21 seismic movements, with the largest measuring 3.8, shook the ground in the villages of Mazo, Fuencaliente and El Paso.

The Spanish Institute of Geology and Mining said on Sunday that blocks of red-hot magma the size of three-story buildings were erupted from the side of the Cumbre Vieja volcano.

Stavros Meletlidis, an ING spokesman, told Reuters that a partial cone collapsed near the volcano’s emissions vent on Saturday.

“The collapse of the northern side of the Cumbre Vieja volcano has resulted in the appearance of large blocks of material and new flows that pass through areas that have already been evacuated,” Spain’s Department of National Security tweeted.

“Lava has reached the Camino de la Gata industrial estate and new buildings.”

The Canary Islands Volcanology Institute said rivers of lava have destroyed 1,186 buildings since the eruption on September 19.

The lava has occupied 493 hectares (1,218 acres) of land, said Miguel ngel Morcuende, technical director of the Canary Islands Volcanic Emergency Planning (PEVOLCA) organization.

About 6,000 people have been evacuated from their homes in La Palma, which has about 83,000 residents.

Lightning flashed near the blast early Saturday. A study published in 2016 by the journal Geophysical Research Letters found that lightning can be generated during volcanic eruptions because of the electric charge produced by the collision of ash particles.

(Except for the title, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

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