Montserrat: Soufriere Hills Volcano
Montserrat was a beautiful Carribean island paradise with Victorian-era capital city of Plymouth with expensive mansions, a large international airport, and booming tourism. Until in 1995 the Soufriere Hills volcano began erupting violently and continued to do so for 17 years until 2012. Ash and pyroclastic flows buried and destroyed half of the island and 2/3 of the population left. A stringent exclusion zone established a Chernobyl-like ghost half of the island. There are two high viewpoints to see the destruction: Garibaldi Hills overlooks the ruins of Plymouth and Belham Valley, and the John Boy Hill overlooking the eastern coast and the flows that destroyed the former airport. Pictures don’t necessarily do justice to the panoramic views of utter destruction and annihilation.
