Planned in the “short term” by the Réunion authorities, the eruption of the Piton de la Fournaise should not occur immediately. In its latest report dated this Thursday morning, the Piton de la Fournaise Volcanological Observatory (OVPF-IPGP) announces an “end of the seismic crisis”, which means that “magma progression has ceased at depth (intrusion) below the summit and not reach the surface”.
By the end of the year?
Contacted by BFMTV.com, the institute believes, however, that in the medium term no hypothesis of a possible eruption can be ruled out.
“We have been preparing for six months, it is a small respite. At the moment all risk has been ruled out, but we remain on alert and by the end of the year an eruption is possible”, she says. adding that one way or another, “the magma is going to come out.”
In its press release published on social networks, it is also specified that “intrusions of this type” such as the one registered in the last few hours “have sometimes preceded the final injection of magma that gives rise to the eruption by a few days”, as it happened in October. 2019 and December 2020. With BFMTV.com, the OVPF-IPGP recalls that the last eruption of the Piton de la Fournaise dates back to January 17.
Currently, the site is still on Alert 1, which corresponds to the observation of signs of increased activity that requires the evacuation of the populations present on the site. In the event of an ongoing eruption, the alert would go to level 2, which allows “guaranteeing the protection of populations” outside the site. Last level, alert 2-3, the most critical, signal “real threat to the safety of people, property or the environment”.
Source: BFM TV
