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Tuesday,
December 6th, 2011
Piparo volcano goes silent
by Radhica Sookraj
Although the rumblings and gas spurts from the Piparo
mud volcano are slowly subsiding, the Office of Disaster Preparedness
(ODPM) is maintaining a safety
alert. Over the past few days hundreds of people have been flocking
to the area to look at the volcano which has been dormant for 14 years
since a huge
eruption on February 22, 1997.
Boyie Seeratt, who lives about 300 feet from the site, said: “We
had over a 1,000 people coming here over the weekend. Many of them
come with
their families to see the volcano. “I could have made some good
money because they were asking for lunch and phoulourie.”
Seeratt said officials from the University of the West Indies Seismic
Research Unit, fire prevention officers and a team from the ODPM visited
it on Sunday.
He said following loud eruptions and heightened activity on Friday
and Saturday, the volcano has become quiet.
“We are relieved because the last time it erupted, we had to
run for our lives,” Seeratt recalled. He said he and his family
were on standby in case of an
eruption. “We already packed a bag with all the important documents.
If we feel the place shaking, we will grab the bag and run,”
he said. Chief Executive
Officer of the ODPM, Dr Stephen Ramroop, said his team was continuing
to monitor it.
“The volcano is very silent and it is not talking to us at all.
We are continuing to monitor it. “We haven’t called off
the alert. The experts have said we should
watch it until the end of tomorrow to see if it settles down,”
Ramroop said. He said it was seepage of surface water into the heated
areas, not seismic activity,
that triggered the gas spurts and rumblings.
By Kevon
Felmine
Residents of Piparo are living on the edge as the mud volcano that
ravaged the village 14 years ago, has begun to threaten their community
again.
Residents are subjected to sleepless nights as they are haunted with
memories of February 22, 1997, when steaming mud crushed houses and
swept away cars, livestock and all else in its path. When the Sunday
Guardian visited the site off Old Piparo Road yesterday, two new mounds
had surfaced, spewing mud
several feet into the air at five minute intervals. At the scene was
Shammarine Kissoondath, 56, who lives nearby. He said he came to see
what was
happening as he had been kept awake by strange sounds issuing from
the volcano.
He said: “It sounded like gunshots
and this morning when I awoke it was still making noise. This is the
same sound it made before it erupted in 1997.
It is possible that we can have a repeat and maybe this time it could
be worse. He said it only took ten minutes on that fateful day for
the massive amount
of mud spewing from the volcano to wreak havoc. Boyie Suratt, who
lives about 300 feet from the volcano said he, too, has been sleeping
restlessly since
Thursday. Suratt’s home is nearest the volcano and he said while
he does not believe that it will erupt any time soon, no one can predict
when and how
severe another eruption might be.
I was home in my gallery around 3
am on Thursday and I heard this sound like people bursting bamboo.
We usually get a little noise now and then,
especially when it rains because gas is trying to escape. But now
the noise has been coming frequently like it have plenty gas down
there.
He explained that the rain softens the mud which causes minor explosions.
However, he admits that over the past few days the noise levels had
increased
significantly occurring at an alarming rate. He, too, recalled the
drama that unfolded in 1997, saying that a wave of mud several feet
high was crumbling
any house in its path. Suratt said his home was saved as another house
that crumbled was able to forge a barrier in front of his.
He said on February 22, 1997, he awoke to mud spewing some 200 feet
into the air.
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