La Palma volcano | news summary for Wednesday 1 December

Cross party politicians to visit La Palma on Friday

A series of Spanish European parliament politicians representing all political parties: PP Gabriel Mato, Juan Ignacio Zoido, Juan Fernando López Aguilar (PSOE), José Ramón Bauzá (Ciudadanos), Izaskun Bilbao (PNV) & Mazaly Aguilar (VOX) will visit the stricken island on Friday as part of a fact finding mission.

3D view of the lava field growth on Wednesday

The extension of the lava field was limited on Wednesday but to get a feel for what has been engulfed by the lava 3D enthusist Pedro Suarez released an updated video map of La Palma.

La Palma cementary buried a second time by lava

Family members have been cut off from the remains of their loved ones buried in Las Manchas cementary by the lava flowing down Cumbre Vieja. A new surge of lava spewing from the volcano has now buried the cementary itself.

The main lava source has changed on La Palma

Vicente Soler, volconologist at the Spanish National Research Council explained on Wednesday that the main ejection point of the lava spewing from Cumbre Vieja has shifted to another vent. This leads to the belief that the subterranean source of the lava flow has been rerouted at a certain depth below ground.  

24 hours of La Palma volcano growing

The spanish National Geographical Institute released a video showing the past 24 hours of the eruption coming from the secondary vent on La Palma. Viewers can see how the cone grows and collapses again and again throughout the day as the volcano spews a large quantity of pyroclastic flow.

Volcano on the doorstep

The eruption on La Palma has been devastating for the residents whose homes and livelihoods have been upended. The photos coming from the island show just how much their world has changed.

This set of photos were taken one month apart. In the one taken 1 December a volcanic vent has opened in front of a house that had been previously buried by ash.

Fund-raising concert for La Palma on 8 January

The concert ‘Music with La Palma: Stronger than the volcano’ is to be held at the Wizink Center in Madrid on 8 January, to raise funds for the Canary Island.

The concert, which will be televised by Spanish state broadcaster TVE, will feature well-known Spanish singers such as Kiko Veneno, Ana Guerra and Pedro Guerra.

Cumbre Vieja eruption - live video:

Radio Televisión Canaria has this live video feed of the erupting Cumbre Vieja volcano:

Giant sofa to raise funds for La Palma

In the town of Pilas in southern Spain, the city council and local trade association have come together to raise funds for La Palma by building a 500-metre-long sofa.

The effort will require around 1,500 hours of work, 2.5 kilometres of material, 10 kilometres of thread and five tonnes of wood.

Involcan video of erupting La Palma volcano

The Canary Islands Volcanology Institute (Involcan) has published this video of "strong Strombolian activity" in the erupting Cumbre Vieja volcano at 6:25pm local time (1:25pm ET). Per Britannica, Strombolian eruptions "involve moderate bursts of expanding gases that eject clots of incandescent lava in cyclical or nearly continuous small eruptions".

La Palma government sets up new system for entering evacuated areas

The Cabildo de La Palma, the island’s local government, has set up a new system by which people can use a QR code to access areas evacuated amid the eruption of the Cumbre Vieja volcano.

On the website http://permiso.lapalma.es, La Palma residents can now apply for a QR code, which they will be able to download onto their mobile phones. The code will then be scanned by law enforcement at the checkpoints on the perimeter of the evacuated zones.

The scheme will coexist with the paper-based identification system currently in place.

This handout photograph taken and released by the Spanish Military Emergency Unit (UME) shows the main cone and sulfur traces (yellowish tones) of the Cumbre Vieja volcano on the Canary island of La Palma.

It has been more than two months since Cumbre Vieja began erupting, forcing more than 6,000 people out of their homes as the lava burnt its way across huge swathes of land on the western side of La Palma.

The island is experiencing its third eruption in a century, with previous ones in 1949 and 1971.

Photo: AFP PHOTO / HANDOUT / SPANISH MILITARY UNIT (UME)

Copernicus imaging of La Palma delta

The EU's Copernicus earth observatory has produced over 50 maps of the La Palma eruption and its resultant lava flows, which have formed a delta of over 40 hectares on the island.

Footage of explosive lava at Cumbre Vieja

The Canary Islands Volcanology Institute has released this footage of explosive strombolian activity inside the vent of Cumbre Vieja taken on Wednesday afternoon.

Funds raised for La Palma from lottery ticket sales

The Cabildo de La Palma, the island's local government, says it has received an initial donation of around 50,000 euros raised as part of the sale of tickets for Spain's Christmas lottery.

“Buying a Christmas lottery ticket has always brought with it the hope that everything could get better, and by carrying out this campaign under these circumstances, many people who are suffering the consequences of the volcano will be greatly helped,” said the Cabildo’s president, Mariano Zapata.

IPNA video of intense volcano eruption

This video, filmed at the Mirador del Jable viewpoint and published by Spain’s Institute for Natural Products and Agrobiology (IPNA), shows the intense eruptive activity of the Cumbre Vieja volcano today:

IGN records 341 earthquakes on La Palma on Tuesday

Spain's National Geographical Institute (IGN) says it registered 341 earthquakes on La Palma on Tuesday, 11 more than the number reported earlier in this live blog. No day has witnessed more earthquakes on the Canary Island since the eruption of the Cumbre Vieja volcano began on 19 September.

"It could be your house, your kitchen"

Lava is seen through the window of a kitchen in El Paso, La Palma, earlier this week, as the Cumbre Vieja continues to erupt.

Reuters photographer Jon Nazca: "There is something astonishingly beautiful and hypnotising about seeing a volcano erupt. But it's a different thing entirely to spend day after day next to a volcano, listening to the incredible noise it makes, the shaking of the ground, the gases that make breathing so difficult, and the ash that falls constantly on your head.

"Four days after the eruption started, I landed on the Spanish island of La Palma. I was struggling to find somewhere to stay and at last I found a house on the outskirts of town. I was worried about my safety, the house felt too close to the exclusion zone. However, it had amazing views of the Cumbre Vieja volcano, the perfect place for a photojournalist.

"I wanted to capture an image showing what the inhabitants of La Palma were experiencing. I was able to access the house next door with my colleague Miguel Pereira. I went straight to the window in the kitchen and began to set up. Miguel had left a glass of water in the sink and I liked the human element this brought - the warmth of the home contrasting with the heat of the volcano outside. It's an everyday image, a kitchen the same as any of us might have, but while you are washing dishes, outside a volcano is erupting. The image is disturbing, even threatening. It could be your house, your kitchen."

(Photo: REUTERS/Jon Nazca/File Photo)

Eruption "more explosive"

The Canary Islands Volcanology Institute (Involcan) says the erupting Cumbre Vieja volcano's activity is "more explosive" than on Tuesday. The body has shared the following video of the eruption this morning:

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Architects' association calls for 'new city' competition for La Palma

The dean of the Madrid's Architects' Association, Sigfrido Herráez, has urged Spain’s central government and the Canary Islands’ regional and local authorities to hold an international design competition for a new city on La Palma, built for those displaced by the eruption of the Cumbre Vieja volcano.

The proposal has been transferred to Spain's Superior Council of Architects' Associations.

According to Madrid’s Architects Association, the aim is to avoid architecture that feels "out of place, like the one that is being proposed now as an emergency solution - with wooden constructions and gable roofs that have nothing to do with the local environment - by building a new city as a consequence of this international call."

Per the EU’s Copernicus Earth observation programme, nearly 2,800 La Palma building have been destroyed by the lava flowing from the Cumbre Vieja volcano.

Record 330 earthquakes on La Palma on Tuesday

A total of 330 earthquakes were registered on La Palma on Tuesday, the highest daily number since the Cumbre Vieja volcano began erupting. The previous high was 319, on 17 November.

Dept. of National Security update on eruption

According to the latest update offered by Spain’s Department of National Security (DSN) on Wednesday, the lava flowing from the Cumbre Vieja volcano now covers a surface area of 1,134 hectares, with a maximum width of 3,350 metres.

The DSN places the number of buildings destroyed by the lava flow at 1,548.

This differs from the figures provided by the EU’s Copernicus Earth observation programme, which in its most recent update said it calculated that nearly 2,800 buildings have been crushed by the lava.

Cumbre Vieja eruption live updates: welcome

Good morning and welcome to our daily live blog 1 December 2021, bringing you the latest news on the Cumbre Vieja volcano on La Palma, which has been erupting since 19 September.