Classes had ended for the day. Homework was completed. Verum stretched her body and smiled. She was free for the day. Of course, the first thing she did was to stride towards her crystal ball. After all, she wanted to stay updated with the happenings of the world.
When her eyes caught the sight of the crystal ball, well, it was erupting. No, not erupting as in making a louder humming sound. It was erupting like a volcano. Verum was shocked. She rushed to her crystal ball with a worried look and said, “What’s going on, crystal ball? Did the Bruha get to you?”
In response, her crystal ball began spinning fast. It highlighted a group of islands off northwestern Africa. Verum’s mouth dropped open as she understood the news.
She said, “Oh, now I see! A volcano called Cumbre Vieja erupted on the island of La Palma of the Canary Islands on Sunday at 3:15 pm. Lava shot up in the air and then streamed down the hillside.”
“Whoa, what?” said Orak, “What happened? How bad is the situation?”
“Cumbre Vieja is a chain of volcanoes that last erupted in 1971,” said Verum, “But La Palma was on high alert when 22,000 tremors were reported in Cumbre Vieja. Rivers of lava streamed towards the villages from five craters that were formed. The authorities had evacuated unwell and frail people along with farm animals from four villages. About 6,000 people fled the scene.”
“Oh, no,” said Scorch, “There seems to be a lot of lava.”
“Yeah, that’s true. Experts say that there are 17 to 20 million cubic meters of lava,” said Verum, “It has entered villages and buried hundreds of homes. Then, the lava made its way towards the sea.”
“Maybe it cooled down there on meeting water,” said Felix.
“That might not be the case,” countered Orak, “When red hot lava meets the sea, it can lead to a chemical reaction. This, in turn, can lead to explosions and the release of harmful gases into the air. It can cause eye, lung, and skin irritation.”
Scorch asked, “What’s the solution to this?”
“Maintaining a distance from the lava rivers,” said Orak with a shrug.