Tenerife is preparing for large-scale exercises to respond to the eruption of Teide.

Tenerife is preparing for large-scale exercises to respond to the eruption of the Teide volcano. From September 22 to 26, the town of Garachico will test how services will act in the event of an emergency. More than a thousand people will participate in the exercises.

Garachico was chosen for a reason. According to experts, the northwestern part of the island, which includes this town, as well as El Tanque, Santiago del Teide and Guía de Isora, is the area of greatest risk in the event of an eruption.

A local government representative, Davila, assured that Teide is not going to erupt now. But, in his opinion, the island must be prepared for any development. The main thing is not to panic, but to jointly develop an action plan and inform people.

He added that the authorities are cooperating with scientists to have everything necessary to analyze the situation and respond quickly. After all, in the event of an eruption, the most important thing is to save people's lives.

Therefore, the local authorities are increasing funding for prevention measures and supporting municipalities in developing emergency response plans.

Supply points have also been created in cooperation with the Red Cross and pharmacists. Training programs are being developed together with scientists from Involcan, IGN, Aemet and universities. In addition, command posts have been created where scientists and the military will work together.

"We cannot ignore the risks. This is a responsible approach that will allow us to prevent disaster and be prepared for it," Davila emphasized. He also noted that these exercises will be the first of such scale in Spain and will correspond to the level of exercises conducted in Hawaii or Sicily.

The exercises will last several days, but the most important stage is September 26. At 9 a.m., all residents of the island will receive a message about a volcanic eruption through the ES-Alert system. The island will enter the "red" zone.

After that, the evacuation of people from the old pier of Garachico will begin.

The organizer of the exercises, Padrón, explained that this is not an improvisation, but a carefully planned training. The goal is for people to understand how to act in an emergency and be prepared for it.

He called for the development of a joint strategy involving all Cabildo services together with the municipalities. This will help identify the most vulnerable people, animals, identify places to receive evacuees and organize the removal of tourists.

Padrón acknowledged that due to climate change, the risks are increasing, so we need to work proactively.

Another expert, D'Auria, noted the significant progress in the civil protection system and monitoring of volcanic activity in Tenerife over the past 25 years. He assured that information about the situation will be updated every minute.

According to him, three calorimeters will be purchased to more accurately predict eruptions. It is important to know how magma moves in the depths, because the time to eruption can be very short – up to a week.

He emphasized that the entire island must be prepared for any development. Monitoring volcanoes is not easy, as the experience of La Palma has shown. Since 2016, certain anomalies have been observed in Tenerife, but in 80% of cases, the island "falls asleep" again.

Currently, "seismic swarms" are recorded on the island, which are associated with the hydrothermal system. There is currently no evidence of magma movement in the depths, and experts hope that the situation will not change in the near future.

"What has been happening in recent months is normal. The system is asleep, but it will wake up someday. This could happen in a year or in a century. Tenerife is an active island, and sooner or later there will be another eruption here. We must be prepared, but now we are in a period of calm," he added.

According to statistics, the probability of an eruption on Tenerife is almost 40% over the next 50 years and over 63% over 100 years.

D'Auria noted that the volcanic risk in the Canary Islands is increasing due to the development of infrastructure and population growth. Therefore, it is important to work with people and raise their awareness of the risks.

He cited the example that very few people came to the prevention measures in La Palma a few months before the eruption.