Fire from the mountain

In July 1995, Montserrat's Soufriere Hills Volcano, dormant throughout recorded history, rumbled to life and began an eruption which eventually buried the island's capital, Plymouth in mud, destroyed its airport and docking facilities, and rendered the southern half of the island uninhabitable.

This forced more than half of the population to flee the island because they lacked housing. From almost 12000 in 1995, only 4500 stayed or went back nowaday.

After a period of regular eruptive events during the late 1990s including one on June 25, 1997 in which 19 people lost their lives, the volcano's activity in recent years has been confined mostly to infrequent ventings of ash into the uninhabited areas in the south. However, this ash venting does occasionally extend into the populated areas of the northern and western parts of the island.