Before Soufriere Hills erupted in 1995, most of the land around the volcano was very fertile which contains most of the minerals from the eruptions before. This could have been an aid to the island and its agricultural production.
A group of biologist studied the forest and its vegetation, as they returned in the area in January, 1996 and found that the forest was gone and almost all of the vegetation have been lost due to acid rain, gases and dust.
Human life Impact:
Rock falls didn't cause much disaster to the human life, but could cause road blocks and damages properties, sometimes they are activated by earthquakes.Fine ash is easily breathed by people; causing lung problems and sometimes death. People in the Exclusion Zone can't evacuate safely by responding to the emergency sirens. When an eruption looked likely all these people were able to evacuate safely by responding to the emergency sirens.
Environmental Impacts:
If the area is inhabited , erosion will be a big problem. When it rain the sediment move from the mountain side to the surrounding area; river valley, which can be blocked and may end up in the ocean and could effect the coral reefs; burying them with ash that blocks sunlight which a need to the marine life. It may effect the other parts of the island.
A group of biologist studied the forest and its vegetation, as they returned in the area in January, 1996 and found that the forest was gone and almost all of the vegetation have been lost due to acid rain, gases and dust.
Human life Impact:
Rock falls didn't cause much disaster to the human life, but could cause road blocks and damages properties, sometimes they are activated by earthquakes.Fine ash is easily breathed by people; causing lung problems and sometimes death. People in the Exclusion Zone can't evacuate safely by responding to the emergency sirens. When an eruption looked likely all these people were able to evacuate safely by responding to the emergency sirens.
- Farmland
Lots of farms that was in the Exclusion Zone, were destroyed leaving the island without food. It's a huge problem because the island was a self sufficient and most of the fertile lands are in the Exclusion Zone. Some farmers tried to build there crops again at he same place to help the island's crisis. - Houses
The houses were buried by debris from the pyroclastic flow, burned by the hot pyroclastic surges, or set alight by the intense heat in the atmosphere. Most of the houses destroyed were in the Exclusion Zone.People still take risks entering the Exclusion Zone but they had no where to go. There isn't enough house in the north. Many had moved into shelters or other emergency accommodation at least once but had returned to their homes in the Exclusion Zone. Some people, especially the elderly, refused to move to the overcrowded shelters because of lack of privacy, overcrowding and poor sanitation.
- Transport
On Montserrat there was only one airport and one port. Most of the transports are gone, since 25 July 1997 the airport has been destroyed. An emergency jetty was built in the north of Montserrat to ship people off the island who wanted to leave.
Many of the population relied on cars and vans to get themselves about the island. Some people in the Exclusion Zone tried to escape using their vehicles. The ash was so thick that it was impossible to see the road. The intense heat would also have burned the tyres of a car or even set it alight. - Plymouth contained all the main services – hospitals, banks, schools, government and many private businesses.
- collapse of the tourist and rice processing industries
- unemployment has risen from 7% to 50%.
- agriculture is at a standstill. • respiratory problems caused by ash.
- psychological problems and discontent with relocation package
- traffic congestion
- shortage of available building land
- 70% rise in rent for accommodation
- skills shortage as people left.
Environmental Impacts:
- The vegetation was negatively effected by ash, that becomes thick which could cause tree branches to break. For the smaller plants the weight is too strong that they can't survive because the ash keep them away from the sunlight.
- The wildlife that eat the plants would die due to the lack of food source. However, the only animal left is; hummingbirds but we don't know how do they feed themselves.
- Acid rain or water drops is being formed from sulfur given off during the volcanic eruption, can damage or kill plants, animals and affect plants directly or indirectly.Most of the plants depend on their soil. Volcanic rocks and thin land can't match with the acid rain and cannot filter out the sulfuric acid, it can't protect the plants in the area.
- Marine environments can also be effected by acid rain because of the high levels of pH measure by scientist to determine the acidic of water; it considered as neutral if it 7.0 and anything below is acidic. The pH of the lake falls below pH of 5.0 the ecosystem is badly effected; fish, invertebrates and plankton would die. In January of 1996 Dr. Brosnan and her colleagues measured the pH of a lake at the top of Chances Peak at 2.0, this could damage more than we can imagine as well as effecting other areas.
If the area is inhabited , erosion will be a big problem. When it rain the sediment move from the mountain side to the surrounding area; river valley, which can be blocked and may end up in the ocean and could effect the coral reefs; burying them with ash that blocks sunlight which a need to the marine life. It may effect the other parts of the island.
The impact on human activity: