It is one of the most active volcanoes in the Caribbean, but its increasing seismic activity has alerted the authorities.
The government of Granada ordered on Monday the boats sailing in the area to stay away from the volcano “Kick ’em Jenny”, located eight kilometers from the north coast of the largest island of which make up the country.
The seismological authorities increased the alert from yellow to orange on the same day, which means that an eruption could occur.
For this reason, the government of the island imposed an exclusion zone of five kilometres around the volcano.
The alert is still in force and authorities closely monitor the behaviour of the volcano, said Oslyn Crosby, spokesperson for the National Disaster Management Agency of Granada.
Crosby explained that updates on their activity are sent from the West Indian Seismic Research Center (SRC) in Trinidad and Tobago.
Professor Richard Robertson, of that centre, said that the possibility that the increased seismic activity could trigger a tsunami implying an imminent danger to the region is not ruled out.
The volcano is on the navigation route between the islands of San Vicente and Granada.
The “Kick ’em Jenny” rises 1.3 kilometres above the bottom of the sea on a steep slope of the Lesser Antilles mountain range.
It has erupted at least a dozen times since it was first registered in 1939, with no reports of deaths.
In 1939, a cloud of ash 270 meters high rose from the surface of the ocean when the volcano erupted.
CBNReport 