La Soufrière (volcano)

Soufriere on St. Vincent

The Soufriere is an active stratovolcano on the Caribbean island of St. Vincent in the state of St. Vincent and the Grenadines in the West Indies and Lesser Antilles. It towers with a maximum altitude of 1220 m the northern part of the island and has a crater lake.

The first historically documented eruption took place in 1718, followed by another in 1812. On May 7, 1902 1,680 people died in an outbreak. This eruption made ​​numerous inhabitants of the neighboring island of Martinique believe their own volcano Mount Pelée would have after several months of unrest phase calmed down ( the earth had therefore almost spent itself ). Just one day later, however, the Mont Pele destroyed the island's capital of Martinique and ripped tens of thousands of people to their deaths. The so far last, accompanied by large pyroclastic flows and ash clouds gewaltigenen outbreak occurred in April 1979. More than 17,000 people had to be evacuated from the northern part of the island to safer areas.