Case Study: Volcano - Montserrat

• Last eruption


  300 years ago
• Warning signs


  • 1995-small earthquakes and eruptions
  • Lava dome began to grow
• June 1997


  Small earthquakes caused a pyroclastic flow burying the 'Spanish point` community
• August 1997


  Pyroclastic flows bury the capital of Plymouth
• September 1997


  74 magmatic eruptions
• 19 people died
• 2/3 of homes on Montserrat destroyed
• Ash caused respiratory problems
• No universities on Montserrat anymore, limiting education prospects
• 50% of water supplies destroyed – took 2 years to repair
• At one point 5,000 people were living in temporary shelters in the North, some for over 2 years
• £1bn in losses
• Capital of Plymouth buried – contained all the main services
• After an exclusion zone was set up fishing boats were not allowed near, affecting the fishing industry
• Vegetation and farmland destroyed
• 60% of the island was declared unsafe for human habitation
• The ash in the long term improved soil fertility
• Responses


  1. Around 11,000 people were evacuated to the north of the island where they lived in poor quality emergency shelter

  2. 2/3 of the island has been abandoned

  3. 8,000 people have left the island and the remainder are rebuilding their lives in the northern safe zone

  4. £17 million in aid donated by the UK

  5. In 1997 the British government offered £2,400 to each adult to with relocation from Montserrat

  6. One women on returning said she felt like a 'tourist`

  7. Prior to the eruption they had no emergency plans in place

  8. Hoped that the northern part of the island will eventually be able to sustain a population of 10,000