Posted Fri 5 Nov 2021
IT IS NOT A PAINTING IT IS A PHOTO OF ASH IN FRONT OF HOUSES
A child's swing. A fountain in a courtyard. A tray of glasses abandoned under the duress of escape.
All will disappear as a cloud of dark ash blows from a volcano on La Palma island — one of Spain's Canary Islands off the coast of Morocco — and drifts to the ground inch by inch.
Inside the exclusion zone, there is destruction by lava as well as burial.
A living room furnished with a hammock sits empty in the final hours before an implacable tongue of molten rock crushes an entire house.
A child's swing. A fountain in a courtyard. A tray of glasses abandoned under the duress of escape.
All will disappear as a cloud of dark ash blows from a volcano on La Palma island — one of Spain's Canary Islands off the coast of Morocco — and drifts to the ground inch by inch.
Inside the exclusion zone, there is destruction by lava as well as burial.
A living room furnished with a hammock sits empty in the final hours before an implacable tongue of molten rock crushes an entire house.
The house was engulfed by lava just hours after this photo was taken.(AP: Emilio Morenatti)
Whether the end comes from lava or from ash, homes and fields located below the Cumbre Vieja volcano face annihilation in slow motion.
Since the eruption started on September 19, authorities have declared more than 8,200 hectares between the Cumbre Vieja volcano and the Atlantic Ocean off-limits.
Only police, soldiers, and scientists are allowed to move freely in the exclusion zone, which cuts La Palma's western shore in two.
Whether the end comes from lava or from ash, homes and fields located below the Cumbre Vieja volcano face annihilation in slow motion.
Since the eruption started on September 19, authorities have declared more than 8,200 hectares between the Cumbre Vieja volcano and the Atlantic Ocean off-limits.
Only police, soldiers, and scientists are allowed to move freely in the exclusion zone, which cuts La Palma's western shore in two.
A fountain is covered with ash spewed out by the volcano.(AP: Emilio Morenatti)
A swing is almost completely engulfed by the falling ash.(AP: Emilio Morenatti)
The lush land previously approximated an earthly paradise for both residents and visitors.
Spaniards and other Europeans spent holidays or retired there to be near the sea, while locals harvested banana trees in its semitropical warmth.
Now, evacuated residents line up in cars and trucks on the zone's edge, awaiting permission to make escorted trips home to rescue their dearest possessions, or at least see their endangered properties.
The lush land previously approximated an earthly paradise for both residents and visitors.
Spaniards and other Europeans spent holidays or retired there to be near the sea, while locals harvested banana trees in its semitropical warmth.
Now, evacuated residents line up in cars and trucks on the zone's edge, awaiting permission to make escorted trips home to rescue their dearest possessions, or at least see their endangered properties.
Pets have been left behind as people on La Palma flee their homes.(AP: Emilio Morenatti)
WHY
Human time and geological time were brought into sync by the volcano.
What once seemed a given — the land beneath people's feet — became as fluid and unpredictable as the lives the eruption threw into tumult.
The creep of the lava and the build-up of ash are matched by the growing anguish of the men and women whose way of life is being erased.
Human time and geological time were brought into sync by the volcano.
What once seemed a given — the land beneath people's feet — became as fluid and unpredictable as the lives the eruption threw into tumult.
The creep of the lava and the build-up of ash are matched by the growing anguish of the men and women whose way of life is being erased.
Jesus Perez holds a broom as he cleans the ash from a volcano at the roof of his house on La Palma.(AP: Emilio Morenatti)
Silence would reign in the exclusion zone if it were not for what residents have named "the beast".
The volcano's constant roar makes conversation almost impossible, nearly drowning out both the barking of abandoned dogs and the murmur of a flock of pigeons circling the sky in search of a coop that no longer exists.
Another sound: families weeping as they are accompanied by police to witness their homes as they succumb.
Lava flows have destroyed more than 1,000 houses in their paths.
Silence would reign in the exclusion zone if it were not for what residents have named "the beast".
The volcano's constant roar makes conversation almost impossible, nearly drowning out both the barking of abandoned dogs and the murmur of a flock of pigeons circling the sky in search of a coop that no longer exists.
Another sound: families weeping as they are accompanied by police to witness their homes as they succumb.
Lava flows have destroyed more than 1,000 houses in their paths.
The ash and lava are destroying neighbourhoods that no longer have residents. (AP: Emilio Morenatti)
Lava from the volcano advances and buries homes.(AP: Emilio Morenatti)
The ash is jettisoned thousands of metres into the sky, but the heaviest, thickest particles eventually give way to gravity.
They accumulate into banks that slowly cover doors, pour into windows and make rooftops sag.
Some particles are so big that when they pummel a car roof or the fronds of a banana tree, it sounds like hail.
The ash is jettisoned thousands of metres into the sky, but the heaviest, thickest particles eventually give way to gravity.
They accumulate into banks that slowly cover doors, pour into windows and make rooftops sag.
Some particles are so big that when they pummel a car roof or the fronds of a banana tree, it sounds like hail.
An aerial shot of a forest region near the volcano covered in ash.(AP: Emilio Morenatti)
Entire houses have ash up the chimney — whole forests, right up to the canopy.
The ash has erased the distinguishing features of the landscape.
"I can't even recognise my home," Cristina Vera said while weeping.
"I can't recognise anything around it.
I don't recognise my neighbours' homes, not even the mountain.
"It has all changed so much that I don't know where I am."
Entire houses have ash up the chimney — whole forests, right up to the canopy.
The ash has erased the distinguishing features of the landscape.
"I can't even recognise my home," Cristina Vera said while weeping.
"I can't recognise anything around it.
I don't recognise my neighbours' homes, not even the mountain.
"It has all changed so much that I don't know where I am."
Ash covers the graves at the La Palma cemetery.(AP: Emilio Morenatti)
The quick relocation of more than 7,000 people has prevented the loss of human life.
But at cemeteries, the occupants go through a second burial by ash that will wipe away the markers that note the place where they were put to rest.
Yet amid the apocalypse, there are moments for the sublime to emerge.
The colours that remain gain in their brilliance against the new ebony backdrop.
A small shrub, shaken clean, becomes a luminous green globe, a sponge pulled from a coral reef, an orb from an alien world.
The quick relocation of more than 7,000 people has prevented the loss of human life.
But at cemeteries, the occupants go through a second burial by ash that will wipe away the markers that note the place where they were put to rest.
Yet amid the apocalypse, there are moments for the sublime to emerge.
The colours that remain gain in their brilliance against the new ebony backdrop.
A small shrub, shaken clean, becomes a luminous green globe, a sponge pulled from a coral reef, an orb from an alien world.
Lava advances as the volcano continues to erupt and engulf the region.(AP: Emilio Morenatti)
A small green shrub emerges from the ash.(AP: Emilio Morenatti)
AP
AP
No comments:
Post a Comment