Talk:2021 eruption of La Soufrière

Comparable to the one in 1902?
In the articles I am seeing in the last hour, experts compare it only to the 1979 events. Are we sure it is comparable to the one in 1902 User:Volcanoguy. Peter K Burian (talk) 19:34, 11 April 2021 (UTC)
 * I'm not the one who added that in the article.... Volcanoguy 19:36, 11 April 2021 (UTC)

OK guy, I will remove it for now, until we can get a scientist to say so. Peter K Burian (talk) 19:39, 11 April 2021 (UTC)
 * It's possible the current eruption is similar to both the 1902 and 1979 events. Volcanoguy 19:44, 11 April 2021 (UTC)
 * Yes User:Volcanoguy, and as soon as Prof. Robertson says so, I will add it. i.e. Richard Robertson of the University of the West Indies Seismic Research Centre, Peter K Burian (talk) 19:50, 11 April 2021 (UTC)

Originally from St. Vincent, Professor Richard Robertson joined the staff at the Seismic Research Centre in 1993 after serving for six years as Head of the local volcano-monitoring unit in St. Vincent (the Soufriere Monitoring Unit). Since joining the Seismic Research Centre he has been involved in a variety of projects including: the ongoing eruption of the Soufrière Hills Volcano on Montserrat; the establishment of volcano monitoring networks (mainly geodetic) and ongoing public education and outreach programs throughout the Eastern Caribbean. He served several tours of duty as Chief Scientist of the Montserrat Volcano Observatory during the period 1995-1999 and was its Director from October 1998 - March 1999. Prof. Robertson served as Head of the Seismic Research Unit during the period 2004-2008 and as Director of the Seismic Research Centre from 2008-2011. For the period September 2011 to July 2013 Dr. Robertson served as a Geologist/Volcanologist at the SRC while on sabbatical, after which he resumed duties as its Director. http://uwiseismic.com/StaffProfile.aspx?id=20 Peter K Burian (talk) 19:51, 11 April 2021 (UTC) User:Faren29 When I click on that twitter link, I do NOT see any feed that says comparable to the VEI-4 event that occured in 1902 Nor can I find a single news article that says so. Peter K Burian (talk) 19:55, 11 April 2021 (UTC)

The tweet does not mention that but I included the scale of the 1902 eruption for comparison sake. All information on the VEI of the eruptions is available on Smithsonian Institution's Global Volcanic Program. Faren29 (talk) 20:57, 11 April 2021 (UTC)


 * The 1902 event was VEI-4 whereas the 1979 event was VEI-3: https://volcano.si.edu/volcano.cfm?vn=360150&vtab=Eruptions. Volcanoguy 20:01, 11 April 2021 (UTC)

Is it VEI4?
I am NOT seeing a lot of experts confirming that the current situation qualifies as VEI4

'but this one does'': Max Volc. Explosivity Index VEI:	4''' Population Exposure Index PEI:	4

Global Disaster Alert and Coordination System: GDACS is a cooperation framework between the United Nations, the European Commission and disaster managers worldwide to improve alerts, information exchange and coordination in the first phase after major sudden-onset disasters. https://www.gdacs.org/report.aspx?eventtype=VO&eventid=1000020

No idea where they got that info but have added that citation to the chart beside VEI 4 Peter K Burian (talk) 17:31, 12 April 2021 (UTC)

title
should the article be moved to "2020–2021 eruption of La Soufrière" or "2020–21 eruption of La Soufrière", or is the current title preferred? the eruption began in 2020, although the explosive phase only began in 2021. dying (talk) 23:27, 12 April 2021 (UTC)

Usually, it refers to the year in which the explosive or major phase of the eruption began. Mount Tambora is always listed as erupting in 1815 but the actual eruptive period started in 1812. Faren29 (talk) 00:47, 14 April 2021 (UTC)


 * good to know. thank you, .  dying (talk) 03:41, 15 April 2021 (UTC)

Number of evacuees
The section talking about the explosive eruption on April 11th says: "Approximately 16,000 people were required to evacuate the area." It is not clear either here in the article or in the source (The Guardian) are those 16,000 in addition to the 20,000 that had already been evacuated. I tend to think that this sentence should be removed for its ambiguity. I did not come across any other source that quotes the number of additional evacuees. - Emilija Knezevic (talk) 02:12, 13 April 2021 (UTC)

I don't think it's 16000 plus 20000. The articles I saw said 16000. But sure delete that due to ambiguity. Peter K Burian (talk) 02:23, 13 April 2021 (UTC)


 * The following article from The Guardian clarifies that 16,000 had already been evacuated:
 * https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/apr/12/st-vincent-la-soufriere-volcano-ash-gas-biggest-explosion - Emilija Knezevic (talk) 03:04, 13 April 2021 (UTC)

Roughly 16,000 people who live in communities close to the volcano had been evacuated under government orders. April 13: https://www.financialexpress.com/photos/business-gallery/2232231/volcanic-explosion-rocks-st-vincent-spews-ash-and-hot-gas-on-caribbean-island-see-images/3/ Peter K Burian (talk) 12:19, 13 April 2021 (UTC)
 * I always thought the 20000 number was just a very lazy rounding of 16000 (itself an approximation, logically), and I though about changing it a couple of times but couldn't be bothered since there was no conflict elsewhere. Now of course this can be fixed to the more precise variant. RandomCanadian (talk / contribs) 12:59, 13 April 2021 (UTC)


 * I have revised that sentence to 16000. Peter K Burian (talk) 13:12, 13 April 2021 (UTC)

April 12 report: 16,000 people were evacuated last week. https://www.townandcountrymag.com/leisure/travel-guide/a36096361/st-vincent-volcano-eruption-2021-news/ April 13, UN Report, Citing reports from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), Stéphane Dujarric added that about 20,000 evacuees on the Caribbean island are currently in need of shelter. https://news.un.org/en/story/2021/04/1089592 Peter K Burian (talk) 13:19, 13 April 2021 (UTC)