This essay was written in 2017, and recently recovered from a computer that had crashed. We assumed Betty’s work had been lost, but we were happy to discover it.

Written: April 8, 2017 (when Betty was 11 years old)

How did the Soufriere Hills volcano affect the people of Montserrat?

In this paper I will describe the affect Soufriere Hills volcano has had on the people of Montserrat. Personally, I think it has had a big affect on them. Some of the ways are: it destroyed Plymouth (the old capital), there is an exclusion zone where they can’t live in or travel through, it also caused economy to come to a halt.

The capital Plymouth used to be in the exclusion zone where people would have access to the rich volcanic soil. One of their main crops was sugarcane (Doyle, 248).

Now their farming grounds have been destroyed by the Soufriere Hills volcano which erupted in 1995, and is still smoking today. In the following paragraph I will tell you what a volcano is.

A volcano is a hole in the earth’s crust (Merriam-Webster, 1319). This hole is formed by earthquakes (Morris, 28-29). Sometimes steam and molten rock shoot out of a volcano(Merriam- Webster, 1319), this is called an eruption. When a volcano has not erupted for a while the volcano is called dormant (Morris, 28-29). If a volcano has been dormant for thousands of years the volcano is called an extinct volcano (Morris, 28-29). A active volcano is a volcano that has erupted recently. The Soufriere Hills volcano on Montserrat has been an active volcano since 1995 (Wikipedia, 1).

In 1995 Plymouth was destroyed by a volcanic eruption, and buried by 12 meters of mud and ash (Wikipedia, 3). Between 1995 and 2000 two thirds of Montserrat’s population was forced to flee, most went to the United Kingdom (Wikipedia, 1).

In 1997 a pyroclastic flow ran down Mosquito Ghaut and killed 19 people (Wikipedia, 4). It also contributed to the population decline of the Giant Ditch Frog (Wikipedia, 4). The Giant Ditch Frog is locally know as the “Mountain Chicken”(Wikipedia, 4). The Giant Ditch Frog only lives on Montserrat and Dominica (Wikipedia, 4). The area that this eruption, and the eruption in 1995 covered are now part of the exclusion zone.

An exclusion zone, when referring to one like the one on Montserrat, is an area where you can’t go because if the volcano erupts the area inside the exclusion zone will get covered in lava. On Montserrat no one can live or travel without special permission in the exclusion zone (Wikipedia, 4).

The exclusion zone on Montserrat covers two of Montserrat’s three parishes (Wikipedia, 7). The parishes it covers are the St. Anthony Parish and the St. George Parish (Wikipedia, 7). They are located on the south side of Montserrat. The St. Peter Parish is the third parish where people live(Wikipedia, 7). The current population of Montserrat is around 4,000 to 6,000 (Wikipedia, 7). The population is very small to have a good economic structure.

After the volcanic eruptions, and hurricane Hugo, most buildings and the infrastructure of Montserrat were destroyed. There were a lot of people left jobless because the building they worked in had been destroyed. There were so few jobs that the economy came to a stop. There were only around 5,000 people left on Montserrat so for a while the people of Montserrat struggled to rebuild the economy. Now, in 2017, luckily they have been able to rebuild the economy and look to the future.

These are the ways Montserratians were effected by the Soufriere Hills volcano. Now in 2017, the Soufriere Hills volcano is still active and smoking from when it destroyed Plymouth.

Citations

Clark, Colin. Fascinating Facts. England: Brown Watson, 1994. Print.

Doyle, Chris. the Cruising Guide to the Leeward Islands Northern Edition Anguilla Through Montserrat. Dunedin: Cruising Guide Publications, 2015. Print.

Merriam-Webster’s Colligate Dictionary. tenth edition. Massachusetts: Merriam-Webster, 2000. Print.

Morris, Neil.“Volcanos and Earthquakes”.Children’s First Encyclopedia. Neil Morris. Bath: Paragon Publishing, 2001. 28-29. Print.

Wikipedia.“Montserrat”

Betty’s essay marked a significant stepping stone in her ability to communicate on paper. An English teacher once told me that writing was a bit like skating: “I would have to learn to skate, before I developed my own signature moves.” At 19, Betty has found her own voice and is a precise and thoughtful writer.

Related post: Sailing the Caribbean? Don’t Miss Montserrat!

Also written by Betty: Visiting the Peter Joseph Museum in the Solomon Islands: A Backyard Full of World War II History