My dear island of Saint Vincent is experiencing a real disaster. The volcano is still spewing out ash that has reached other Caribbean nations. Barbados and Saint Lucia at 10:00 in the morning look like 10:00 at night.
The photos below show what it is like all day in Saint Vincent. Breathing, water access, electrical power and food availability are serious issues and are growing worse by the day. Thousands from the northern most segment of the island are being evacuated to other Caribbean nations. The orphans from Saint Benedict Home for Children, from the northern segment of the island, are being housed in Saint Mary's School in the capitol in the very southern part of the island. Priests from the northern segment are being housed in the Pastoral Centre in the capitol city of Kingstown down in the south.
Some of our "investments," through my Catholic Second Wind Guild (the Pastoral Centre, automobiles, school supplies and tuition help, most church renovations), are intact as far as I know. However the whole roof on Our Lady Star of the Sea Church collapsed into the church from the weight of the ash and sand. That was the church that we renovated with some of our old Cathedral chairs, new ceiling fans and other nice used liturgical furniture. Look how deep the ash and sand from the volcano is! No wonder it collapsed!
After we fixed it up and before the roof collapsed
As it looks now after the roof collapse from the weight of the volcanic ash and sand.
Father Alando sent the photo above and also a video below of what he encountered on the road home.
Even though I feel a bit helpless at this point, I am consoled by the fact that the Diocese of Kingstown would be a whole lot worse off without our past help.
The saddest thing about all this is that it could continue for a long time, it could get worse and people who have been evacuated may not be able to return for months and even years! The ash will affect the fruit trees, the vegetable gardens and the farm animals - a big source of their food supply. Because people are having to crowd together in smaller spaces, COVID will no doubt spread faster than ever in a country with a limited health system! A country who has suffered so much is suffering even more now!
I am in contact with the Bishop and several of the diocesan leaders by telephone, text and WHATSAPP.
If you are inspired to offer help, please make your donations check out to SAINT BARTHOLOMEW CHURCH - SVG MISSION FUND and send them to me. I can still deposit them from here. This is the safest, quickest and cheapest way to get it to them. Bishop County has a committee to divide and distribute any help fairly and efficiently.
SEND YOUR ST. BARTHOLOMEW SVG MISSION FUND CHECKS TO ME
Rev. Ronald Knott
1271 Parkway Gardens Court
#106
Louisville, KY 40217
Out in the country ash keeps falling like snow.
Ash is blanketing the whole city of Kingstown. It's so bad, the streets are almost empty.
Some men are trying to clean the ash off a house roof. The roof is red. The ash is brown. As you can see, it is no easy task. Just imagine everything covered with ash getting wet and baking in the hot Caribbean sun for a few weeks!
KINGSTOWN, St. Vincent (AP) — La Soufriere volcano fired an enormous amount of ash and hot gas
early Monday in the biggest explosive eruption yet since volcanic activity began on the eastern Caribbean island of St. Vincent late last week, with officials worried about the lives of those
who have refused to evacuate.
Experts called it a “huge explosion” that generated pyroclastic flows down the volcano’s south and southwest flanks.
“It’s destroying everything in its path,” Erouscilla Joseph, director of the University of the West Indies’ Seismic Research Center, told The Associated Press. “Anybody who would have not heeded the evacuation, they need to get out immediately.”
There were no immediate reports of injuries or death, but government officials were scrambling to respond to the latest eruption, which was even bigger than the first eruption that occurred Friday morning. Roughly 16,000 people who live in communities close to the volcano had been evacuated under government orders on Thursday, but an unknown number have remained behind and refused to move.
Richard Robertson, with the seismic research center, told local station NBC Radio that the volcano's old and new dome have been destroyed and that a new crater has been created. He said that the pyroclastic flows would have razed everything in their way.
“Anything that was there, man, animal, anything...they are gone,” he said. “And it’s a terrible thing to say it.”
Joseph said the latest explosion is equivalent to the one that occurred in 1902 and killed some 1,600. The volcano last erupted in 1979. Ash from the ongoing explosions has fallen on Barbados and other nearby islands.
One government minister who toured the island’s northeast region on Sunday said he saw an estimated two or three dozen people still remaining in the community of Sandy Bay alone, prompting Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves to urge people to leave.
“It is over time for you to leave,” he said. “It is dangerous.”
JUST NOW - 6:45 AM - TODAY
The volcano is erupting yet again. I am getting photos and videos of falling ash, rivers of mud and landslides faster than I can keep up with!
It appears to be a "hell on earth" situation that keeps getting worse by the day!
My heart goes out to the people of my adopted country of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines!
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