CARIBBEAN ISLAND
Where is St Vincent? Island home to La Soufriere volcano
Aliki Kraterou
11:08 ET, Apr 9 2021
Updated: 11:08 ET, Apr 9 2021
THE VOLCANO La Soufrière in the Caribbean island of Saint Vincent has erupted.
Thousands of people were ordered to evacuate the island on April 8, 2021, after a shift in volcanic activity.
The red alert came after a shift in the volcanic activityCredit: Reuters
Where is Saint Vincent?
Saint Vincent is a volcanic island in the Caribbean.
It is the largest island of the country Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.
The island is located between Saint Lucia and Grenada.
The country's largest volcano, La Soufrière, is active.
The latest episode of volcanic activity had begun in December 2020.
The country's capital is Kingstown.
The rest of the island consists of towns Layou, Barrouallie, Chateaubelair, Georgetown, and Calliaqua.
The country's second largest island is Bequia.
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines gained independence from the UK in October 1979.
It then became part of the British Commonwealth of Nations.
Saint Vincent was also one of the filming locations for the 2002 Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl.
What is the population of Saint Vincent?
It is estimated that Saint Vincent has a population of 130,000.
The population saw significant migration to the UK in the early 1900s as well as to Canada and other Caribbean islands.
The country's capital is Kingstown with a population of 25,418 people.
People were ordered to evacuate on April, 8, 2021
When has La Soufriere volcano erupted?
There had been four major eruptions of La Soufrière in the past four centuries.
La Soufrière violently erupted in 1718 and 1812
The most devastating eruption was in 1902 when it is estimated over 1,600 people were killed.
It happened just hours before the eruption of Mount Pelée on Martinique that killed 29,000.
There were no reported deaths in the latest eruption in 1979, thanks to a mass evacuation days earlier.
St Vincent volcano La Soufrière erupts sending ash plume into the sky hours after thousands ordered to flee their homes
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