The experience of La Palma contributes to managing the volcanic risk in Tenerife, but the experts emphasize, from a multisector perspective, the substantial differences between the two Islands. It is the main conclusion of the II Insular Days of Civil Protection and Emergency Management, dedicated this year to the dangers derived from eruptions. The one on Tajogaite is a good starting point, but presentations and technical tables value the fact that the geography of Tenerife and that of the Isla Bonita are very different.
The president of the council, Peter Martinindicates at the inauguration that «Tenerife is the only island that has a Volcanic Risk Plan, approved in 2020. That experience, and knowing what happened in La Palma, has to help us learn that this is not something that cannot happen ».
This forum, organized by the Security area, analyzes in detail, in the Fairgrounds, the management of volcanic risk. To do this, 18 specialists participated during the day, proposing different points of view on the crises, with special attention to the episode on La Palma between September 19 and December 24 of last year. The culmination will be on Tuesday, the 22nd, when more than 55 people will participate in technical roundtables that will develop the implementation strategy of the Island Volcanic Risk Plan (PAIV).
President Martín appreciates that “Tenerife has an entity, Involcan, with an important weight in this meeting, since more than 28 million euros have been invested in its research projects alone”. He warns that “we have to keep working and not lower our guard to be prepared for any eventuality.”
He stresses that “the eruption of La Palma has helped us to evaluate our plan, but one situation is very different from another.” He explains that “the territorial distribution of the population and the demography of Tenerife have nothing to do with that of La Palma. The risk is greater here because it is a highly populated island with a large spread of the population.”
For his part, the Minister of Public Administrations, Justice and Security of the Government of the Canary Islands, Julio Pérez, points out: “Volcanic risk is a matter that requires continuous updating and we are obliged to always improve our capabilities”. He adds that “conferences like these, with all the administrations, are very valuable.”
The insular Director of SecurityRubén Fernández, appreciates the load of knowledge and the very high-level technical proposal of the speakers. The vast majority faced, and some still face, the volcanic emergency on La Palma and its consequences, which, concludes Fernández, “have marked a historic milestone in the management of this risk.”
The intense day of work was divided into three blocks. In the first place, volcanic risk planning in the field of civil protection to move on to volcanic emergency plans in La Palma and the case of Tajogaite. Finally, volcanic risk management was analyzed from different perspectives. From the role of scientific institutions to the work of intervention groups or communication and information to the population. The debate in the forum, with the motto Talerta –the T equivalent to Tenerife– was enriched with questions from the attendees.
A new foreign achievement of Involcán
The Volcanological Institute of Canary Islands (Involcan), an entity dependent on the Cabildo, once again reinforces its value far from the limits of the Island, by recording precursor geochemical signs of the eruption in January 2020 of the Taal volcano, in the Philippines. The results of this research work on one of the 16 Decade Volcanoes have been published in the prestigious Scientific Reports magazine.
